Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/229598 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 8780
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
Using cross-country time series panel regressions for the last two decades, this paper seeks to identify the main policy and institutional factors that explain the share of self-employment across European countries. It looks at the aggregate share of self-employed as well as its breakdown by age, skill and gender. The generosity of unemployment benefits, and to a lesser extent, spending on active labour market policies appear to be robust determinants of the long-term share of self-employed in European countries. No significant relation could be identified between the stringency of employment protection and aggregate self-employment. However, there are significant, and oppositely signed, impacts on high- and low-skilled self-employed separately. Both the tax wedge and the minimum wage appear to be related positively to the share of self-employed in the long term, but the relation holds for some categories of workers only.
Subjects: 
self-employment
labour market
labour market regulations
labour market institutions
Europe
JEL: 
J01
J21
J41
J48
Document Type: 
Working Paper
Appears in Collections:

Files in This Item:
File
Size





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