This paper investigates the effect of culture and home country self-employment rates on immigrant self-employment in the United States, post-migration. This study analyzes the effects for both men and women, focusing on the gender gap in self-employment. The empirical results show that home country effects have a small impact on self-employment, but most of this relationship is unexplained. Because the explanatory power of home country effects is so low, it is unlikely that culture significantly influences self-employment. I find that, contrary to my hypotheses, women from countries with high female self-employment rates are likely to see a larger decrease in self-employment than their male counterparts or women from countries with lower self-employment rates. The gender gap in self-employment increases in the U.S. because self-employment declines more for women than men. However, I do find that men from countries with high male self-employment will also see a larger decline in self-employment than men from other countries. Thus, I reject the home country self-employment hypothesis with regards to women and men. I find some evidence that immigrant self-employment rates are more related to stage of economic development in the host country than culture in the home country.

Research Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the socio-cultural barriers that self-employed immigrant entrepreneur’s face and the overcoming factors that help them to survive. Research Questions: 1. What are the socio-cultural barriers that immigrant entrepreneurs face in the context of self- employment? 2. What are the factors that help immigrant entrepreneurs to overcome the socio-cultural barriers? Methodology: This study is followed by qualitative research and explorative approach. The data collection was done by semi-structured interviews. Ten immigrant entrepreneurs are the convenience sample of our study. Findings: Language, legislation and lack of trust are the most unfavorable socio-cultural barriers that self-employed immigrant entrepreneurs face in the host country. Result shows that knowing the right information is important for immigrant entrepreneurs. For technology, immigrant entrepreneurs are now learning more about it by themselves. Besides, technology helps them to learn the language faster as it is more convenient than in school. Their previous experience and transnational identity are their biggest strength that helped them to break the socio-cultural wall. Immigrant entrepreneurs are often influenced by the native people in a positive way and that influences drive them to learn new things to overcome those barriers. The co-ethnic networks do not always play a positive role rather this study found that these networks actually play a dual role. Research Limitations: All of our sample are collected from Sweden, but for language and laws, the result might vary from person to person from different corners of the wall. This study was concerned with the self-employed entrepreneurs; not with the large level of enterprises.

We develop a job search model with self-employment and savings to understand occupation choice in the United Kingdom (UK). In the UK, self-employment has steadily grown from the beginning of the 2000s and comprised more than 14% of the workforce in 2015. We estimated the model using the method of moments and data from two longitudinal surveys, the Wealth and Assets Survey and the Understanding Society for the period 2010-12. We then use the model to simulate counterfactual policies to promote employment via entrepreneurship such as lower profit taxation and entry barriers into self-employment, or through changes in wage taxes and unemployment benefits. The results show that a rise in self-employment can be mostly associated with an increase in the payroll tax or a reduction on the self-employment income tax / Desenvolvemos um modelo de busca por emprego que inclui o trabalhador autônomo e a riqueza para estudar a escolha ocupacional no Reino Unido. No Reino Unido, o trabalho por conta própria vem crescendo desde o início da década de 2000 e ultrapassou 14 % da força de trabalho em 2015. Estimamos o modelo usando o método de momentos e dados de duas pesquisas longitudinais, a Wealth and Assets Survey e a Understanding Society, para o período 2010-12. Em seguida, utilizamos o modelo para simular políticas contrafactuais de incentivo ao emprego através do empreendedorismo, com a menor tributação de lucros, redução às barreiras de entrada no trabalho por conta própria, ou através de alterações no imposto salarial e auxílio desemprego. Os resultados mostram que um aumento do emprego autônomo pode estar associado principalmente a um aumento do imposto sobre os salários ou a uma redução do imposto sobre o rendimento do trabalho por conta própria

A aposentadoria é uma instituição social que pode ter efeitos múltiplos e de longo prazo sobre o bem-estar individual. Essa tese investigou duas dimensões dessa questão, relacionadas à saúde e à inserção laboral de indivíduos mais velhos no Brasil. O objetivo desse trabalho é investigar os efeitos da aposentadoria sobre as condições de saúde e sobre a transição para o trabalho por conta própria no Brasil. A metodologia utilizada é econométrica e duas bases de dados foram utilizadas. A investigação da transição para o trabalho por conta própria utilizou a Pesquisa Mensal de Emprego (PME), entre os anos de 2002 a 2007, com trabalhadores na faixa de 50 a 69 anos de idade. A metodologia empregada foi a de pseudo-painel, que permitiu o tratamento de uma possível endogeneidade da decisão de trabalhar, além de possibilitar o uso de técnicas de dados em painel. Os resultados encontrados mostram que a renda de aposentadoria tem impacto sobre essa transição, em especial, para os menores quartis. No entanto, estar aposentado (dummy) não é significativo para explicar a transição ocupacional de interesse. Outros controles mostraram-se importantes, mas com diferentes impactos para homens e mulheres. Já a investigação dos efeitos de aposentadoria em saúde utilizou a Saúde Bem-Estar e Envelhecimento (SABE), base longitudinal com idosos no município de São Paulo. Foram estimados modelos de efeitos fixos e efeitos fixos com variável instrumental para levar em conta a possível simultaneidade entre a decisão de parar de trabalhar e a condição de saúde da pessoa. Foram encontradas evidências de que a aposentadoria melhora indicadores de mobilidade, especialmente para os homens. / Retirement is a social institution that can have multiple and long-term effects on individual well-being. This thesis investigated two dimensions of this issue, related to health and labor insertion of older individuals in Brazil. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of retirement on health and on the transition to self-employment in Brazil. The methodology used is econometric and two databases were used. The investigation of the transition to self-employment used the Monthly Employment Survey (PME), between the years 2002-2007, with workers aged 50 to 69 years old. The methodology used was the pseudo-panel, allowing the treatment of a possible endogeneity of the decision to work, in addition to allowing the use of panel data techniques. The results show that retirement income has an impact on this transition, particularly for the lower quartiles. However, be retired (dummy) is not significant in explaining the occupational transition of interest. Other controls were important, but with different impacts on men and women. Already investigating the health effects of retirement used the Health Welfare and Ageing (SABE), longitudinal base with elderly in São Paulo. Fixed effects and fixed effects with instrumental models were estimated to take into account the possible simultaneity between the decision to stop working and the person\'s health condition. Evidence was found that retirement improves mobility indicators, especially for men.

This licentiate’s thesis consists of two essays on immigrant self-employment and labour supply. The first essay (co-author Mats Hammarstedt), Intergenerational transmissions in immigrant self-employment: Evidence from three generations, reviews intergenerational transmissions in immigrant self-employment over three generations. More precisely, we study whether self-employment is transferred both from grandfather to grandson and from father to son, as well as if there are any differences between immigrant groups and differences between immigrants and natives. In addition, we investigate the importance of the intergenerational transfer of general and specific human capital for choice of business line. The results show that having a self-employed father and self-employed grandfather have a strong positive effect on self-employment propensities for male third-generation immigrants. On the other hand, natives were found to transfer self-employment from father to son, but not from grandfather to grandson. The results also indicate that immigrants inherit self-employment abilities from their self-employed fathers increasing the self-employment propensity, but not necessarily in the same business line. In contrast, native self-employed fathers transfer human capital to their sons making them more prone to become self-employed in the same business line as the father is in. The second essay, Female immigrant labour supply: The effect of an in-work benefit, focuses on immigrant labour supply, and evaluates the effect of a recently introduced in-work benefit, the so called job deduction, on the labour supply of single immigrant women. In this study, we address the following questions: What is the effect of the in-work benefit on the labour supply of single immigrant women? Does the effect of the in-work benefit on working hours differ between immigrant groups? The results show that, on average, there is no major effect of the in-work benefit on the labour supply of single immigrant women. However, households with the lowest incomes increase their working hours quite strongly. Furthermore, on average, there appears to be no difference in the effect of the in-work benefit between immigrant groups. In the low-income households, though, immigrants from non-European countries and from Southern and Eastern European countries, increase their labour supply relatively more than immigrants from Nordic countries and Western Europe. Finally, the relatively large increase in working hours for single immigrant women with the lowest incomes appears, above all, to be a result of increased participation in the labour market. However, part of the effect is related to an increase in the number of working hours of already employed women.

This paper investigates the effect of entrepreneurial spirit on immigrant entrepreneurship in the United States. Entrepreneurial spirit refers to attitudes and perceptions towards entrepreneurship, or general self-employment. I address the home country self-employment hypothesis and examine the effect of home country self-employment rates on immigrant self-employment outcomes. I find a negative effect of home country self-employment rates on immigrant self-employment rates and thus, reject the home country self-employment hypothesis. I argue that home country self-employment rates over-estimate entrepreneurial spirit because they are largely driven by the world’s poorest people who are less likely emigrate to the U.S. I address this issue by using immigrants’ home country’s Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) as a measure of immigrant entrepreneurial spirit. I find that the GEI has a positive effect on immigrant self-employment rates, and provide evidence that entrepreneurial spirit has a positive effect on immigrant entrepreneurship in the U.S.

In 2006, Congress appropriated $5 million to create a research-based policy and give technical assistance to agencies that achieved self-employment outcomes for entrepreneurs with disabilities (EWDs). A lack of information exists within the extant body of research on EWDs and the strategies they employ to develop successful businesses. The research design was a multiple case study format engaging 3 Michigan EWDs whose firms were profitable after at least 3 years of successful business operations. Tipu's conceptual framework of entrepreneurship was useful in understanding the basis for successful EWDs' strategies. Face-to-face interviews with EWDs and onsite observations of their business operations were the primary data collection methods used in the study. The data analysis procedure began with interview transcriptions and summaries of activities. Data coding led to the identification of recurring concepts and integration of topics from across sources to create a complete picture. The decision-making choices successful EWDs made depended on a solid product and market knowledge, the creation of financial and marketing relationships, and adherence to cost-based operational leadership. The findings may contribute to social change by empowering persons with disabilities to become entrepreneurs. Insights into the business strategies can lead to new programs that motivate individuals to become entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship benefits EWDs, their families, and their communities by facilitating independence and economic and social contributions.

From the perspectives of economic anthropology, feminist anthropology, and feminist theory, this applied anthropological study is an evaluation of a popular international development model targeting poor women. Based on the celebrated Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, the so-called "microcredit" model is designed as a poverty alleviation strategy to provide small loans to poor women in rural settings and is designed to facilitate microenterprise development. Due to the popularity of the microcredit model with the international development community, it is being replicated in different settings. Through an analysis of microenterprise development among Afro-Caribbean women, this study presents the argument that successful application of international development strategies, such as the microcredit model, requires consideration of three critical factors if the objective is to facilitate economic empowerment. First, international development policy and practice has tended to homogenize women, enforce gender-typed work, and emphasize group structure regardless of recipients' needs or preferences. Second, attempts by local governments to replicate the microcredit model may fail due to lack of commitment or inadequate infrastructure. Third, application of international development interventions, such as the microcredit model, must be tailored to fit the cultural and historical context as well as account for the needs and expectations of intended recipients.

<p>Essay 1: Hurst and Lusardi (2004) use higher-order polynomials in wealth in estimating the relationship with entrepreneurship. They find evidence conflicting with the existence of extensive liquidity constraints in the United States. In this paper, their approach is replicated on Swedish data. A positive relationship between wealth and entrepreneurship is found, which supports the liquidity constraints hypothesis. Alternative methods attempting to handle the endogeneity problem and distinguish between absolute decreasing risk aversion and liquidity constraints give further support to the hypothesis. The paper suggests that there exist liquidity constraints in Sweden, which are possibly more extensive than in the United States.</p><p>Essay 2: Displacement is expected to decrease the reservation wage of self-employment by decreasing earnings in paid employment and increasing the probability of unemployment. This paper examines whether displacement increases the probability of self-employment using propensity score matching on Swedish register-based data. The data include all individuals displaced due to plant closures in 1987 and 1988, and a random sample of 200,000 employed individuals. The results suggest that displacement almost doubles the probability of entering self-employment the year after displacement. A sub-sample analysis indicates that individuals with a potentially worse position on the labor market react more strongly to displacement in terms of entering self-employment.</p><p>Essay 3: A large literature has studied the effect of displacement on labor market outcomes in general, but no one has evaluated how the displaced succeed as self-employed. This paper studies how the survival of the business is affected by displacement in connection to entry, using a discrete-time proportional hazard model on a matched sample of displaced and non-displaced individuals. The main result of the paper is that, as a consequence of previous displacement, the probability of switching from self-employment to paid employment decreases and the probability of switching to unemployment is unaffected.</p>

Essay 1: Hurst and Lusardi (2004) use higher-order polynomials in wealth in estimating the relationship with entrepreneurship. They find evidence conflicting with the existence of extensive liquidity constraints in the United States. In this paper, their approach is replicated on Swedish data. A positive relationship between wealth and entrepreneurship is found, which supports the liquidity constraints hypothesis. Alternative methods attempting to handle the endogeneity problem and distinguish between absolute decreasing risk aversion and liquidity constraints give further support to the hypothesis. The paper suggests that there exist liquidity constraints in Sweden, which are possibly more extensive than in the United States. Essay 2: Displacement is expected to decrease the reservation wage of self-employment by decreasing earnings in paid employment and increasing the probability of unemployment. This paper examines whether displacement increases the probability of self-employment using propensity score matching on Swedish register-based data. The data include all individuals displaced due to plant closures in 1987 and 1988, and a random sample of 200,000 employed individuals. The results suggest that displacement almost doubles the probability of entering self-employment the year after displacement. A sub-sample analysis indicates that individuals with a potentially worse position on the labor market react more strongly to displacement in terms of entering self-employment. Essay 3: A large literature has studied the effect of displacement on labor market outcomes in general, but no one has evaluated how the displaced succeed as self-employed. This paper studies how the survival of the business is affected by displacement in connection to entry, using a discrete-time proportional hazard model on a matched sample of displaced and non-displaced individuals. The main result of the paper is that, as a consequence of previous displacement, the probability of switching from self-employment to paid employment decreases and the probability of switching to unemployment is unaffected.