“…Self-employment is a potential labor alternative to paid employment, has been seen as a driver of technological change and innovation, and has a direct impact on economic growth and development (Porter, 1990;Acs, 1992;Acs et al, 2004;Van Stel et al, 2005;van Praag and Versloot, 2007;Minniti, 2008;Kelley et al, 2011;González and Montero, 2014;Bjørnskov and Foss, 2016;Block et al, 2017). As a result, selfemployment is high on the agenda of many policy makers and institutions, who have tried to promote self-employment in order to mitigate the effects of economic downturns (Fairlie, 2009;Spors, 2009;Gimenez-Nadal and Molina, 2014;Naudé, 2016).…”