Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/130315 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9634
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In this paper, we study self-employment in a theoretical setting derived from wage-efficiency spatial models, where leisure and effort at work are complementary. We develop a spatial model of self-employment in which effort at work and commuting are negatively related, and thus the probability of self-employment decreases with "expected" commuting time. We use time-use data from the American Time Use Survey 2003-2014 to analyze the spatial distribution of self-employment across metropolitan areas in the US, focusing on the relationship between commuting time and the probability of self-employment. Our empirical results show that the probability of self-employment is negatively related to the "expected" commuting time, giving empirical support to our theoretical model. Furthermore, we propose a GIS model to show that commuting and self-employment rates are, in relation to unemployment rates, negatively related.
Subjects: 
wage-efficiency
self-employment
commuting
leisure
American Time Use Survey
JEL: 
J21
J22
R12
R41
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
414.58 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.