Or maybe having a social safety net has the opposite effect you think it does, in that anyone starting a business without one is going to try that much harder t

Or maybe having a social safety net has the opposite effect you think it does, in that anyone starting a business without one is going to try that much harder to make sure their business doesn't fail, as otherwise their life is ruined. Someone with a safety net might be happy to give up after some minimum of effort because they know they'll be fine. Necessity is an incredibly strong motivator for people. Not necessarily saying that relying on the specter of ruination would be the right choice (if the above was true), but I don't think you can reduce it to such simplistic levers.