Self-Employment and the Economic Cycle in Spain

Lasierra, Jose Manuel (2018): Self-Employment and the Economic Cycle in Spain.

Abstract

In periods of economic crisis, self-employment emerges as a potential alternative to unemployment. Literature on the subject identified two distinct basic theories according to which predisposition towards self-employment occurs as an opportunity (pull) or a need (push), closely linked to the business cycle. Here, due to our concern that self-employment might be incentivized in periods of crisis leading to both financial and personal failures, we attempted to verify the validity of both of these theories. To do so, we used a series of personal and job-related variables signifying certain characteristics of persons who want to be self-employed. Our results point towards greater substantiation for the pull theories and refute certain beliefs held by academicians and managers. Furthermore, there are two variables with high, significant coefficients that serve as a synopsis to describe opportunity: workload and money. We link both of these with working hours and net income.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Self-employment, Business cycle, Entrepreneurship, Labour Policy, Unemployment, Gender
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E3 - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles > E32 - Business Fluctuations ; Cycles; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J16 - Economics of Gender ; Non-labor Discrimination; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers > J64 - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers > J68 - Public Policy; M - Business Administration and Business Economics ; Marketing ; Accounting ; Personnel Economics > M2 - Business Economics > M21 - Business Economics

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