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Does self-employment contribute to national happiness?

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  • Harbi, Sana El
  • Grolleau, Gilles

Abstract

Recent studies showed that self-employment impacts individual happiness either positively or negatively. Rather than considering the happiness effects at the individual level, we assess whether self-employment effects spread and impact the domestic happiness beyond the involved individuals. We distinguish a direct effect of self-employment on life satisfaction and an indirect effect through the impact of self-employment on per capita income and the subsequent impact of income on life satisfaction. Using panel data analysis for 15 OECD countries over a period of 18 years, we investigate empirically whether countries with higher levels of self-employment are happier, by disentangling the two previously mentioned effects. We remedy the potential endogeneity problem when estimating the indirect effect by instrumenting the self-employment rate. The main finding is a significant and negative direct effect which is larger in magnitude than the indirect effect, resulting in an overall negative effect of self-employment on the domestic happiness.

Suggested Citation

  • Harbi, Sana El & Grolleau, Gilles, 2012. "Does self-employment contribute to national happiness?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 670-676.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:41:y:2012:i:5:p:670-676
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2012.06.001
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Binder, Martin & Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin, 2021. "Self-employment and Subjective Well-Being," GLO Discussion Paper Series 744, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Andrew Atherton & João R. Faria & Dongxu Wu & Zhongmin Wu, 2015. "Human Capital, Entrepreneurial Entry and Survival," NBS Discussion Papers in Economics 2015/01, Economics, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University.
    3. Olivier Torrès & Roy Thurik, 2019. "Small business owners and health," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 311-321, August.
    4. Susanne L. Toney & Gregory N. Price, 2021. "Can Black Entrepreneurship Reduce Black-White Inequality in the United States?," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 294-301, December.
    5. Mojca Svetek & Mateja Drnovsek, 2022. "Exploring the Effects of Types of Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity on Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 149-170, January.
    6. Martin Binder, 2017. "Entrepreneurial Success and Subjective Well-Being: Worries about the Business Explain One's Well-Being Loss from Self-Employment," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 947, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    7. Zhao, Daping & Jiang, Jialing & Yin, Zhichao, 2020. "Can entrepreneurship bring happiness? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 679-686.
    8. Martin Binder & Alex Coad, 2014. "How satisfied are the self-employed? A life domain view," SPRU Working Paper Series 2014-17, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Self-employment; Life satisfaction; Panel data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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