Only the lonely? The influence of the spouse on the transition to self-employment

Previous research showed that married individuals are overrepresented among the self-employed. Few studies proposed skill-spillover between the spouses within the marriage as an explanation. This paper deviates from the previous research by exploring different relationship contexts (e.g., cohabitation, being married or divorced, a widow(er) or single) and the role of partner influences under these contexts. It argues that the interaction between gender and relationship status implies variation in not only resources but also constraints, and hence sorts individuals into two different types of self-employment: entrepreneurial self-employment (i.e., incorporated business) and unincorporated self-employment. Using “Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) 1965–2005” data, results of the competing risk models show that marital status contributes to both types of self-employment transitions, especially for men, but also for women. Cohabitation is a less supportive context for entrepreneurship and a partner’s self-employment experience increases only women’s likelihood of entering into entrepreneurship. These results suggest that skill-spillover between partners might be context dependent and only in one direction (from men to women).     

Gender differences in full-time self-employment

This analysis reveals interesting gender differences in full-time self-employment. Women who choose full-time self-employment have personal characteristics that are less highly valued in the marketplace than women who work full-time in wage-and-salary employment. The reverse is true for men. It is unclear whether the gender gap in self-employment income is the result of different supply decisions made by women, or greater constraints and/or discriminatory elements faced by women. There is some suggestion that women may place a higher value on nonwage aspects of self-employment than men do.     

Entrepreneurial Women and Men: Two Different Species?

The ability of the self-employed to create additional job opportunities is a fundamental concern given the huge increases in public resources targeted at new venture creation in the U.K. and other countries since 1979. This study initially concentrates on identifying differences in the personal and demographic characteristics of women and men in four potential labour market states, namely; unemployment; waged employment; single self-employment, and; job creating self-employment. It then goes on to consider labour market transitions over a four year period between 1991 and 1995. The key findings are firstly that women entrepreneurs are better educated than their male counterparts and secondly that flows into self-employment were considerably higher for men than women. Furthermore, proportionately, three times as many male self-employed in 1991 had gone on to become job creating self-employed by 1995.     

Do different factors explain male and female self-employment rates?

This article challenges the assumption that the factors associated with the self-employment choices of women differ from those of men; specifically, we test the extent to which women are influenced by standard economic factors compared with family and social issues. We find that economic factors influence the self-employment choices made by men and by women in the long and short-run. Although some findings were sensitive to the chosen self-employment measure our short-run findings, in particular, are at variance with the interpretation that self-employed women are less likely to be influenced by economic factors than their male counterparts. Consequently, we argue that gender-based explanations have exaggerated the importance of social factors in the self-employment choices made by women.     

The determinants of changes in U.S. self-employment, 1968–1987

Summary The self-employment rate depends on the distribution of full-time workers across ages, educational levels, and industries and on tax rates and business conditions. About 90 percent of the variation in self-employment across time and across age groups is explained by these factors. Swings in the self-employment rate over time result from the interplay of changes in these factors. The entry of the baby-boom generation into the labor-force beginning in the later 1960s has led to a decrease in the average age of the full-time nonagricultural workforce and has tended to decrease the self-employment rate. The secular decline of manufacturing, the secular rise of services, and secular increases in educational levels have tended to increase the self-employment rate. Fluctuations in business conditions and tax rates have also affected the self-employment rate. The evidence reported here suggests that self-employment is procyclical, although not strongly so. Increases in effective federal income during the late 1970s tended to increase self-employment rates while decreases during the Reagan years tended to decrease self-employment rates.These findings are helpful for speculating about the answers to three important questions. First, are people more entrepreneurial than they used to be? The fact that the ebb and flow of self-employment over time can be explained almost entirely by structural changes in the economy suggests that people with given demographic characteristics and morking in particular industries have not become more likely to try entrepreneurship²⁸.Second, did the supply of entrepreneurs increase during the Reagan years? The answer is yes and no²⁹. The number of people who operate full-time businesses has certainly increased: from 5.99 million in 1981 to 6.46 million in 1985. The absolute supply of entrepreneurs has risen. But the number of people who are full-time wage workers has also increased: from 65.2 million in 1981 to 71.6 million in 1985. The fraction of workers who operate businesses has fallen: it increased from 9.3 percent in 1981 to a peak of 10.0 percent in 1983 and then fell to 9.1 percent in 1985. The relative supply of entrepreneurs has thus fallen. Ironically, one of the many causes for the decline in the relative supply of entrepreneurs was the decrease in tax rates that were, according to supply-side advocates, supposed to have increased entrepreneurship³⁰.Third, will we see rising or falling self-employment in the coming decade? Predicting future rates of self-employment is treacherous because these rates depend upon many factors. The aging of the baby-boom generation will by itself lead to sharply increasing rates of self-employment as the baby-boomers, who started turning 40 in 1985, pass through the peak years of self-employment. This upward trend may be offset by a number of more fragile structural changes in the economy. The sharp decline of the dollar may reinvigorate manufacturing at the expense of services. If so, self-employment will decline. Further lowering of federal income tax rates may reduce the gains from tax-avoidance through self-employment and thereby impart a further downward trend in self-employment rates. Other changes that have helped increase self-employment may have run their course. Female labor-force participation rates and educational levels among both men and women may have reached a plateau. If so, these factors will cease to be a factor in changing self-employment rates.This paper has analyzed the determinants of changes in the aggregate rate of self-employment across age cohorts. When examining aggregate rates of self-employment we have ignored more subtle questions concerning why particular individuals choose to try self-employment at particular times in their careers and what makes a successful entrepreneur. These questions await future research.We would like to thank Jules Lichtenstein and Edward Starr for helpful comments and suggestions.     

Gender Discrimination,Entrepreneurial Talent and Self-Employment

The trend of female self-employment in Italy is stable, with a low level of participation which confirms the prediction of economic theory on discrimination. We contend that gender discrimination alters the distribution of entrepreneurial talent between employees and self-employed workers. This gives rise to the prediction that the self-employed women are less likely to survive when self-employed than men because the lesser entrepreneurial talent of women will increase their risk of failure. Applying Markovian analysis to ISTAT’s labor market transition matrices we verify this prediction: Many women try to set up on their own, but they fail to remain self-employed both because their lesser entrepreneurial talent and because they try to become entrepreneurs without any previous experience of work. ‘If you think you’re so discriminated against, why don’t you set up on your own?’     

Self-employment of older Americans: do recessions matter?

As high unemployment rates linger following the latest recession, job opportunities can be sparse, especially for older workers. This might prompt older Americans to seek out opportunities in self-employment. Alternatively, recession-related decreases in economic activity might make self-employment less attractive. Using the Health and Retirement Study, we find that unemployed respondents are more likely to enter self-employment and that these decisions are clearly affected by recessions, although the effects differ by recession and gender. Unlike men, women’s self-employment decisions are very sensitive to other sources of household income, and women are less likely to become self-employed the deeper the recession.     

Small business formation by unemployed and employed workers

This paper uses data from the Current Population Surveys for 1968–1987 and from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Men to examine the relationship among unemployment and small business formation and dissolution for white men and women. We find that self-employed workers are more likely to have experienced unemployment than are wage workers because their higher entry rate into self-employment offsets their higher exit rate out of self-employment. Unemployed men and women who enter self-employment experience a larger drop in their earnings than the unemployed who return to wage work.The authors are Vice President, National Economic Research Associates and Associate Professor, Fordham University, respectively. This research was supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration under contract no. SBA-2102-AER-87. We retain responsibility for the views expressed below.     

The Making of Entrepreneurs in Germany: Are Native Men and Immigrants Alike?

This paper uses a state of the art three-stage estimation technique to identify the determinants of the self-employed immigrant and native men in Germany. Their making is surprisingly alike. Employing data from the German Socioeconomic Panel 2000 (GSOEP) release we find that self-employment is not significantly affected by exposure to Germany or by human capital. But this choice has a very strong intergenerational link and it is also related to homeownership and financial worries. While individuals are strongly pulled into self-employment if it offers higher earnings, immigrants are additionally pushed into self-employment when they feel discriminated. Married immigrants are more likely to go into self-employment, but less likely when they have young children. Immigrants with foreign passports living in ethnic households are more likely self-employed than native Germans. The earnings of self-employed men increase with exposure to Germany, hours worked and occupational prestige; they decrease with high regional unemployment to vacancies ratios. Everything else equal, the earnings of self-employed Germans are not much different from the earnings of the self-employed immigrants, including those who have become German citizens. However, immigrants suffer a strong earnings penalty if they feel discriminated against while they receive a premium if they are German educated.     

Gender and field of study as determinants of self-employment

This article concentrates on gender differences among university graduates with respect to self-employment. We investigate the characteristics of self-employed men and women, focusing in particular on the contribution of field of study as a determinant of the gender gap in self-employment rates. Our approach is based on probit regressions and on the application of a non-linear decomposition technique to the gender gap in self-employment. We find that age and field of study account for two-thirds of the observed gender gap in self-employment.     

Self-employment entry across industry groups

Highly educated individuals possessing a net worth exceeding $100,000 are the most likely to enter self-employment. Recent studies have linked personal wealth holdings positively to self-employment entry, but educational attainment has been a weak and erratic determinant of self-employment status. Although barriers such as financial capital constraints clearly shape self-employment entry decisions, the nature of these barriers varies substantially across small business industry groups. The strong role often played by education and work experience in identifying self-employment entrants is often obscured by inappropriate aggregation across industries.Entry barriers shape not only the decision to enter self-employment but also the types of industries that potential business owners are likely to enter. The likelihood of self-employment in skilled services increases greatly as level of education rises, whereas the opposite situation prevails in construction. The major barriers to self-employment entry in manufacturing and wholesaling are clearly financial in nature. In contrast, the primary route to self-employment in the growing skilled services industries is the attainment of advanced educational credentials; personal wealth holdings are secondary.Several factors perform consistently in identifying self-employment entry across industries. The likelihood of entry increases with age, peaking as people approach age 40 and then leveling out. African-Americans are less likely to pursue self-employment than nonminorities.Factors associated with self-employment entry among women are quite different than those that predict male entry, but this partially reflects the differing industry concentrations among men and women. Women are more likely to enter self-employment in skilled services fields. Thus, advanced education and work experience—the human capital variables—are the strongest predictors of female entrants.Barriers to self-employment are most binding to those who possess neither the human capital nor the financial capital traits associated with entry. For others, barriers need not deny access to self-employment—rather, they may simply shape the industry choice. This study is based upon the 1984 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), a longitudinal survey of households carried out by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Entry into self-employment was observed over a 32-month period for a sample of 24,428 adults.     

Does self-employment increase the economic well-being of low-skilled workers?

Low-skilled workers do not fare well in today’s skill intensive economy and their opportunities continue to diminish. Utilizing data from the survey of income and program participation, this paper provides an analysis of the economic returns to business ownership among low-skilled workers and addresses the essential question of whether self-employment is a good option for low-skilled individuals that policymakers might consider encouraging. The analysis reveals substantial differences in the role of self-employment among low-skilled workers across gender and nativity—women and immigrants are shown to be of particular importance from both the perspectives of trends and policy relevance. We find that, although the returns to low-skilled self-employment among men is higher than among women, the analysis shows that wage/salary employment is a more financially rewarding option for most low-skilled workers.     

Racial differences in self-employment exits

Using detailed work history data in the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, I investigate the reasons behind the racial gap in self-employment. My analysis of an “age uniform” sample of men, all of whom are observed from age 22 to 40 years, reveals that racial differences in cross-sectional self-employment rates are largely due to the fact that minority workers’ self-employment spells are relatively short-lived. Moreover, I find that minority workers’ relatively high exit rates are driven primarily by transitions to nonemployment. Estimates from a multinomial logit model of self-employment exits suggest that minority workers’ weak attachment to the labor market prior to entering self-employment is an important determinant of their transition from self-employment to nonemployment, while lack of prior industry and self-employment experience contributes to minorities’ transitions to wage employment. When I assign blacks and Hispanics the same (mean) work histories as whites, the predicted black–white gap in the first-year self-employment survival rate decreases by 31% and the Hispanic–white gap decreases by 14%.     

Dependent self-employment as a way to evade employment protection legislation

This paper examines whether the strictness of employment protection legislation encourages employers to contract out work to their own paid employees by the formula of dependent self-employment, while making transitions to independent self-employment less likely by altering the relative valuation of risk between salaried work and self-employment in favour of the former. In conducting this analysis, discrete choice models are applied to data drawn from the European Community Household Panel from 1994 to 2001. To test the hypotheses, a tentative individual measure of the potential severance payment that a worker would receive in the case of dismissal is included as well as aggregated variables that try to capture differences in labour market institutions and macroeconomic conditions. Evidence for a positive impact of the strictness of employment protection legislation and the potential severance payment on transitions to dependent self-employment is found. The opposite effects, however, are detected for individuals becoming independent self-employed.     

Determinants of self-employment survival in Europe

This paper investigates the determinants of self-employment survival in Europe in two stages. The first one focuses on the effect of variables at the individual level, while the second raises questions regarding specific regional factors through the introduction of macro variables. In conducting this analysis, discrete choice models, including both single and competing risks frameworks, are applied to data drawn from the European Community Household Panel from 1994 to 2001. Different destination states are considered: paid employment, unemployment and inactivity. This allows us to search for the underlying determinants of these different hazards. The results suggest a positive impact on survival of formal education and previous experience within the labour market. In addition, we find that entering self-employment from unemployment has a strong negative effect on survival within self-employment. However, our results also show that the expenditure on start-up subsidies decreases the risk of exiting self-employment specifically for the group of individuals entering self-employment from unemployment. Therefore, the availability of these incentives might be seen by policymakers as not only a route to increase entry into self-employment, but also as an adequate instrument for equalising survival chances across individuals entering self-employment from unemployment and those entering with a different starting status.     

Women's self-employment: An act of institutional (dis)integration? A multilevel,cross-country study

In this paper we investigate the extent to which gender equality disintegrates women's self-employment choice (compared to that for men) and whether this is contingent upon a country's development stage and industries. We rely on symbolic interactionism to argue that employment choices emerge from an interactive conversation between individual and social institutional processes. Using data from 61 countries, we find that overall gender equality is associated with the gender gap in men's and women's self-employment choices and that this association depends upon the country's development stage and industries. Contributions are made to women's entrepreneurship and institutional theory.     

Self-Employment Among Immigrants in Sweden – An Analysis of Intragroup Differences

This paper examines intragroup differences in self-employment within different immigrant groups and the native population in Sweden with the help of 1990 Census data. Intragroup differences are observed among all the groups. The study shows that differences in self-employment rates between individuals with different educational attainment exist for some of the immigrant groups. For immigrants from Southern Europe and non-European immigrants as well as for natives, the propensity for self-employment is lower among individuals with higher education. Furthermore, the study also shows that there are intragroup differences defined by gender and point in time for immigration. Finally, the study observes small differences in self-employment earnings within the different immigrant groups.     

Institutions and female entrepreneurship

This paper compares the impact of institutions on men and women’s decisions to establish new business start-ups between 2001 and 2006. We use data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor survey (GEM) which cover at least 2,000 individuals per year in each of up to 55 countries and have merged it with country-level data, from the World Bank, Economist Intelligence Unit, Polity IV and the Heritage Foundation. We find that women are less likely to undertake entrepreneurial activity in countries where the state sector is larger, but the rule of law is not generally found to have gender-specific effects. However, more detailed institutional components of discrimination against women, in particular, restrictions on freedom of movement away from home, make it less likely for women to have high entrepreneurial aspirations in terms of employment growth, even if their entry into entrepreneurial activities, including self-employment, is not affected by this.     

经济发达地区农户借贷需求特征及影响因素研究——基于浙江温岭市的调查

对浙江温岭市379户农户借贷需求状况的调查结果显示:农户户均借款数额较大,且增长迅速;借贷资金主要来源于农村合作银行,但民间借贷也是一个补充途径;约75%的借贷资金用于非农产业;以一年内的短期借款为主;农户之间的民间借贷以低息、借条形式为主,规范性较好。进一步地,应用Logistic回归模型对农户借贷需求的影响因素进行定量分析,结果表明,农户的总收入、非农收入、借贷倾向、借贷次数、储蓄存款、从事行业和地理区域是对借贷需求具有显著影响的因素。     

Push and pull factors and Hispanic self-employment in the USA

This study examines the main push and pull factors driving Hispanic self-employment in the USA by modeling the self-employment decision as a function of sectoral earnings differences, country of origin, and other factors. Findings indicate that a main reason Hispanics engage in self-employment is they can earn more working for themselves than in wage/salary work. Immigrants appear to be pushed into self-employment as a result of limited opportunities in the wage work sector. Although low relative earnings in wage/salary work could push workers with limited English proficiency into self-employment, our findings indicate barriers to this. Results suggest that workers pulled into self-employment are those with more work experience and a college degree. Workers who originate from Southern South America and Colombia have relatively high self-employment rates, while Mexico-origin workers have relatively low self-employment rates. We also uncover differences across Hispanic origin groups in terms of the influence of gender, education, and personal wealth on self-employment participation.