Bibliography: pages 219-229. / This thesis covers the constraints, both theoretical and practical, on the growth and evolution of the Zimbabwean informal sector, in particular of informal clothing and footwear production. The aim of the study was to provide a foundation for decision-making in the intersectoral allocation of resources. To this end, a survey was conducted of over one hundred and twenty formal and informal clothing producers in Bulawayo. The questionnaire was administered and completed by the author during the course of an interview, the questions requiring specific, as opposed to open-ended, answers. The production data obtained were analysed using the Kmenta formulation of the Constant Elasticity of Substitution (C.E.S.) production function, with a view to obtaining the production parameters. The data from formal and informal sector interviewees were analysed separately and in aggregate and tested for constancy of variance, significance of parameters and explanatory power. Whilst a number of conclusions are drawn in the course of the thesis, the central finding is that allocation of scarce resources to the informal sector should be based on the standard procedures used by venture capital seeking an outlet in a normal market economy, and in particular on the ability of the entrepreneur, since this appears to be an increasingly crucial variable as firm sizes fell.

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by Chun-wai Chan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-66). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgments --- p.i / Abstract --- p.ii / Table of Contents --- p.iv / List of Tables --- p.v / List of Figures --- p.vi / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Data Source --- p.4 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Methodology --- p.11 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Empirical Analysis --- p.13 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Conclusion --- p.34 / Appendix --- p.36 / References --- p.62

This study investigates gender differences in South African self-employment, focusing particularly on earnings differences. The study identifies a large earnings gap in favour of men in self-employment, and it explores how the determinants of female and male returns to self-employment differ. Using a combination of descriptive and econometric methods and data from the Labour Force Surveys for 2001-2007, I find that female self-employment is more likely than male selfemployment to exhibit characteristics that are associated with low returns. The female self-employed tend to work part-time, be home-based, have own account enterprises and work in unskilled occupations in the informal sector. The data also suggest the presence of gender discrimination among the self-employed which may be the result of consumer discrimination and discrimination in access to credit or product markets. Focusing on the non-agricultural informal sector, I construct a more detailed gendered profile of the self-employed using a household survey from October 2005, namely the Survey of Employers and the Self-Employed. This survey captures a wealth of information on the self-employed and their businesses which is not available in the Labour Force Survey data. The analysis reveals that, in comparison to men, women are more likely to enter self-employment out of necessity, spend less starting a business, have poorer access to transport and report lower overheads. In light of the key constraints identified particularly by women in self-employment, the analysis suggests that assistance with marketing, better access to raw materials/supplies, provision of an alternative location, and better access to credit markets would help improve the profitability of their businesses. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: Daniel S. Hamermesh. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available from UMI.

Cada vez mais pessoas chegam à idade da transição para a aposentadoria, o que tem estimulado pesquisas sobre o assunto. Pouco se sabe, contudo, sobre como esse processo se dá em trabalhadores autônomos. Este trabalho teve como objetivo principal compreender a experiência de aposentadoria em profissionais autônomos, estando organizado em três estudos. O primeiro consistiu na apresentação dos principais referencias teóricos sobre o tema da aposentadoria, discutindo seus pontos fortes e suas limitações. O segundo, também teórico, descreveu as principais motivações para a entrada e a permanência no mercado de trabalho autônomo. Já o terceiro estudo, de caráter qualitativo e fenomenológico, investigou como profissionais autônomos vivenciam a sua aposentadoria. Foram entrevistados dez participantes, com idades variando entre 60 e 91 anos. A experiência de aposentadoria caracterizou-se por uma transformação do papel de trabalhador e uma modificação na dinâmica de outros papéis sociais desempenhados pelo aposentado. Verificou-se que enquanto o corpo e a mente permitissem a atuação profissional, os autônomos seguiriam trabalhando. Ter construído um ambiente de trabalho flexível proporcionou uma transição de carreira gradual e com um maior controle, apesar dos relatos de pouco planejamento sobre o futuro. Entende-se que os autônomos vivenciam uma aposentadoria parcial, visto que o recebimento de um benefício não se constitui como um marcador social para a saída do mercado de trabalho. / More and more people reach the age of the retirement transition, a fact that has stimulated research on this topic. However, little is known about the retirement process of selfemployed professionals. This work addresses this theme in three studies, aiming to understand the experience of retirement in self-employed professionals. The first study presents the main theoretical frameworks about retirement, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses. The second one, also theoretical, describes the main motivations why selfemployed people choose this kind of work. The third study, qualitative and phenomenological, investigated how self-employed professionals experienced the retirement. Ten participants, aged between 61 and 91 years, were interviewed. The retirement experience consisted in a transformation of the worker role, and a change in the social role dynamics. Participants revealed the desire to keep working while the body and the mind still allow the development of professional activities. Having a flexible work environment provided a gradual career transition, with more control, despite little planning about future. It is concluded that self-employed people experience a partial retirement, since earning a retirement benefit is not perceived as a social marker for stop working.

Cada vez mais pessoas chegam à idade da transição para a aposentadoria, o que tem estimulado pesquisas sobre o assunto. Pouco se sabe, contudo, sobre como esse processo se dá em trabalhadores autônomos. Este trabalho teve como objetivo principal compreender a experiência de aposentadoria em profissionais autônomos, estando organizado em três estudos. O primeiro consistiu na apresentação dos principais referencias teóricos sobre o tema da aposentadoria, discutindo seus pontos fortes e suas limitações. O segundo, também teórico, descreveu as principais motivações para a entrada e a permanência no mercado de trabalho autônomo. Já o terceiro estudo, de caráter qualitativo e fenomenológico, investigou como profissionais autônomos vivenciam a sua aposentadoria. Foram entrevistados dez participantes, com idades variando entre 60 e 91 anos. A experiência de aposentadoria caracterizou-se por uma transformação do papel de trabalhador e uma modificação na dinâmica de outros papéis sociais desempenhados pelo aposentado. Verificou-se que enquanto o corpo e a mente permitissem a atuação profissional, os autônomos seguiriam trabalhando. Ter construído um ambiente de trabalho flexível proporcionou uma transição de carreira gradual e com um maior controle, apesar dos relatos de pouco planejamento sobre o futuro. Entende-se que os autônomos vivenciam uma aposentadoria parcial, visto que o recebimento de um benefício não se constitui como um marcador social para a saída do mercado de trabalho. / More and more people reach the age of the retirement transition, a fact that has stimulated research on this topic. However, little is known about the retirement process of selfemployed professionals. This work addresses this theme in three studies, aiming to understand the experience of retirement in self-employed professionals. The first study presents the main theoretical frameworks about retirement, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses. The second one, also theoretical, describes the main motivations why selfemployed people choose this kind of work. The third study, qualitative and phenomenological, investigated how self-employed professionals experienced the retirement. Ten participants, aged between 61 and 91 years, were interviewed. The retirement experience consisted in a transformation of the worker role, and a change in the social role dynamics. Participants revealed the desire to keep working while the body and the mind still allow the development of professional activities. Having a flexible work environment provided a gradual career transition, with more control, despite little planning about future. It is concluded that self-employed people experience a partial retirement, since earning a retirement benefit is not perceived as a social marker for stop working.

Cada vez mais pessoas chegam à idade da transição para a aposentadoria, o que tem estimulado pesquisas sobre o assunto. Pouco se sabe, contudo, sobre como esse processo se dá em trabalhadores autônomos. Este trabalho teve como objetivo principal compreender a experiência de aposentadoria em profissionais autônomos, estando organizado em três estudos. O primeiro consistiu na apresentação dos principais referencias teóricos sobre o tema da aposentadoria, discutindo seus pontos fortes e suas limitações. O segundo, também teórico, descreveu as principais motivações para a entrada e a permanência no mercado de trabalho autônomo. Já o terceiro estudo, de caráter qualitativo e fenomenológico, investigou como profissionais autônomos vivenciam a sua aposentadoria. Foram entrevistados dez participantes, com idades variando entre 60 e 91 anos. A experiência de aposentadoria caracterizou-se por uma transformação do papel de trabalhador e uma modificação na dinâmica de outros papéis sociais desempenhados pelo aposentado. Verificou-se que enquanto o corpo e a mente permitissem a atuação profissional, os autônomos seguiriam trabalhando. Ter construído um ambiente de trabalho flexível proporcionou uma transição de carreira gradual e com um maior controle, apesar dos relatos de pouco planejamento sobre o futuro. Entende-se que os autônomos vivenciam uma aposentadoria parcial, visto que o recebimento de um benefício não se constitui como um marcador social para a saída do mercado de trabalho. / More and more people reach the age of the retirement transition, a fact that has stimulated research on this topic. However, little is known about the retirement process of selfemployed professionals. This work addresses this theme in three studies, aiming to understand the experience of retirement in self-employed professionals. The first study presents the main theoretical frameworks about retirement, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses. The second one, also theoretical, describes the main motivations why selfemployed people choose this kind of work. The third study, qualitative and phenomenological, investigated how self-employed professionals experienced the retirement. Ten participants, aged between 61 and 91 years, were interviewed. The retirement experience consisted in a transformation of the worker role, and a change in the social role dynamics. Participants revealed the desire to keep working while the body and the mind still allow the development of professional activities. Having a flexible work environment provided a gradual career transition, with more control, despite little planning about future. It is concluded that self-employed people experience a partial retirement, since earning a retirement benefit is not perceived as a social marker for stop working.

The difference in financial literacy among business owners may affect how financial decisions are made, especially when comparing between women and men. Using role congruity theory as the theoretical framework, the objective of this study is to examine how financial literacy, composed of financial knowledge and financial confidence, differs in influence in the decision-making process of financial decisions between self-employed women and self-employed men. Based on data from the 2014 Canadian Financial Capability Survey (CFCS), results show that self-employed women and self-employed men have equivalent financial knowledge. In addition, while self-employed women have less financial confidence than self-employed men, self-employed men are more overconfident than self-employed women, both groups are, in general equally likely to make risky (bad) decisions. This suggests that financial confidence plays an important role as financial knowledge does in the decision-making process.

The majority of companies in Taiwan are small and medium businesses, and most of companies are run by couples. Therefore, it is very common to see boss¡¦s wife in the company. Nonetheless the boss¡¦s wife puts different amounts of effort in the family field and the work field depending on the amount of her participation in managing family business and which stages of the family life cycle she is in. That is, the boss¡¦s wife frequently has a trade off between family and work life. The purpose of this study is to discover what kinds of conflicts the boss¡¦s wife experiences when looking after both work and family and how they cope with conflicts and thus balances their work and family life. This study has adapted case study method, a way of qualitative research to collect and analyze data. The propositions are as follows: Proposition 1: If the boss¡¦s wife takes her participation in family business, it is the extension of family responsibility, and they will be involved in managing the company. Proposition 2: Housekeeping is remained as the boss¡¦s wife¡¦s major responsibility. However, the boss and his parents will lower their expectations of housekeeping quality in order to lessen the loading of the boss¡¦s wife in the family field. Proposition 3: Motivated by family responsibilities, the boss¡¦s wife will look after both family and family business. Proposition 4: Prerequisites of maternity and intentions to take on the family role first, even if the permeability of family boundary is higher, the work and family conflicts come mainly from family interference with work, not vice versa. Proposition 5: One of characteristics embedded in the boss¡¦s wife¡¦ work is work-family boundary ambiguity. Proposition 6: It is because the boss is considerate to the fact that his wife is too busy to look after both the work filed and the family filed and vice versa, spouses can eliminate each other¡¦s role conflicts.