No abstract

This paper uses NCDS data on individual characteristics to distinguish determinants of entrepreneurial choice, income and job generation. A new model of utility from self‐employment shows that relaxing liquidity constraints could inhibit performance. Empirically, we find that a range of inheritance enhances the performance of the self‐employed and increases self‐employment; while higher education also increases self‐employment income and job creation, but reduces the probability of self‐employment. Combining these choice and performance effects, we find that education has a positive net effect on job creation, as does inheritance up to a certain threshold.

The article makes three contributions to the economics literature on entrepreneurship. We offer a new measure of entrepreneurship which accounts for variations in persistence in self-employment and as a result avoids the weakness of approaches which categorise an individual as an entrepreneur by observing their occupation at just one point in their career. We outline an econometric methodology to account for this approach and find, via a statistical test of model selection, that it is superior to probit/logit models, which have dominated the literature. While our results indicate that this existing literature is good at explaining an individual's propensity to try self-employment, we find that entrepreneurial persistence is determined by a different model and unearth some new insights.Early self-employment encourages entrepreneurial persistence. For men, inheritance encourages persistence, and facilitates initial self-employment. Having a self-employed father as a role model makes sons persist longer. However, somewhat surprisingly, early experience of unemployment does not affect the probability of self-employment, while reducing persistence. The popular 'unemployment push effect' is thus rejected in our sample.

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in Co-Determination, Efficiency, and Productivity Felix R. FitzRoy Kornelius Kraft D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E S Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der ArbeitInstitute for the Study ABSTRACT Co-Determination, Efficiency, and Productivity *We present the first panel estimates of the productivity effects of the unique German institution of parity, board-level co-determination. Although our data span two severe recessions when labour hoarding costs of co-determination are probably highest, and the panel is too short to capture the likely long run benefits in terms of human capital formation and job satisfaction, we find positive productivity effects of the 1976 extension to parity codetermination in large firms. Conference, University of Bristol, the 3 rd DFG-colloquium on industrial economics and input markets, and the University of Essen, particularly Jan Askildsen, Stephen Smith, Murat Sertel and Olaf Hübler for helpful comments and discussion. Two referees provided very useful comments on an earlier version. We are also very grateful to Gregor Brüggelambert and Antonia Niederprüm for excellent research assistance and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for financial support.