The study of intergenerational inheritance focuses on analyzing how and to what extent certain social and economic characteristics are passed on from parents to offspring. Two basic aspects are human capital and education.
by Jorge Villa gumboAnd the Jose Alberto Molina s Jose Ignacio Jimenez Nadal
Although the transmission of socio-economic characteristics such as wealth, income, labor supply and even immigration decisions are also investigated.
In this context, understanding the characteristics that can be passed down from one generation to another can be particularly useful from an economic policy point of view.
For example, policies aimed at reducing poverty and inequality can be designed and implemented more efficiently if it is known which individuals are most likely to pass on certain characteristics, favorable or unfavorable, that determine the social, economic and work future of their children.
Self-employment is an option for unemployment
We analyzed the intergenerational transmission of self-employment between parents and children in Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, and Sweden.
The self-employment transition is particularly interesting in Europe because, during recent economic crises, unemployment levels have grown alarmingly in many European economies, and self-employment acts as an alternative to employment for those individuals who cannot find work as wage earners.
The self-employment transition in Europe has already been analyzed before, but based on specific countries, with different methodologies and data, resulting in very divergent results.
On the contrary, the main objective of our work is to analyze how self-employment transitions in a group of countries, using a common methodology and coherent data, which provides a coordinated view of self-employment transfer and how it differs from country to country. In the country. To do this, we use survey data.EU statistics on income and living conditions
which is the main compilation of European statistics on income, social inclusion and living conditions.
Self-employment in inheritance
Our results show, first, that intergenerational self-employment transmission exists and is statistically significant.
Second, we find that this transfer is particularly important for men: men whose father was employed or self-employed are 15.7% more likely to be self-employed than men of the same population whose fathers were not self-employed.
Among women, women who had a mother who worked or was self-employed in the past were 9.2% more likely to be self-employed, compared to other women who had the same characteristics but whose mothers were not employed or self-employed.
In addition to these differences between men and women, we find that the transmission of self-employment across generations varies from country to country, as shown below.
context and culture
- Finally, we analyze two potential channels that could explain both the intergenerational transmission of self-employment and the differences that exist between countries.
- We study the legal and bureaucratic context related to setting up new businesses. In areas where this is more appropriate, a freelance transition may be more stable.
We analyze the culture of entrepreneurship. Those areas where self-employment is a condition that is better evaluated socially and culturally may not only offer higher levels of self-employment, but also a greater tendency for children of the self-employed to be also self-employed.
- Using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, we conclude the following:
- In countries where the culture and legal context associated with self-employment is better, self-employment transmission is greater.
The legal context is a more important channel, both qualitatively and quantitatively, than the culture of entrepreneurship and is related to self-employment and the creation of new companies.
Initiative
In recent years, various institutions have encouraged self-employment as a tool to combat the devastating effects of the recent crises.
Our results show that self-employed fathers tend to have children who are self-employed as well, with this transition being particularly important among boys. In addition, it is favorably affected in those environments where the legal and bureaucratic context favors the creation of new businesses.
Facilitating the creation of new businesses, both legally and bureaucraticly, can lead to an increase in the levels of self-employment, as it is an additional incentive to start their own business for both new entrepreneurs and those whose parents have had or have a business. Jorge Villa Jumbo he is Associate Professor Doctor, University of Zaragoza; Jose Alberto Molina he is Professor at the University of Zaragoza; s Jose Ignacio Jimenez Nadal
he is
University Professor, University of Zaragoza.
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