Arbeitspapier

Are the self-employed really jacks-of-all-trades? Testing the assumptions and implications of Lazear's theory of entrepreneurship with German data

Using a large representative German data set and various concepts of self-employment, this paper tests the jack-of-all-trades view of entrepreneurship by Lazear (AER 2004). Consistent with its theoretical assumptions we find that self-employed individuals perform more tasks and that their work requires more skills than that of paid employees. In contrast to Lazear's assumptions, however, self-employed individuals do not just need more basic but also more expert skills than employees. Our results also provide only very limited support for the idea that human capital investment patterns differ between those who become self-employed and those ending up in paid employment.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: IWQW Discussion Papers ; No. 11/2011

Classification
Wirtschaft
Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
Labor Demand
Subject
entrepreneurship
self-employed
Germany

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Lechmann, Daniel S. J.
Schnabel, Claus
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Institut für Wirtschaftspolitik und Quantitative Wirtschaftsforschung (IWQW)
(where)
Nürnberg
(when)
2011

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:46 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Lechmann, Daniel S. J.
  • Schnabel, Claus
  • Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Institut für Wirtschaftspolitik und Quantitative Wirtschaftsforschung (IWQW)

Time of origin

  • 2011

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