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The Making of Entrepreneurs in Germany: Are Native Men and Immigrants Alike?

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Author Info
Amelie Constant ()
Klaus Zimmermann ()

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Abstract

This paper uses a state of the art three-stage estimation technique to identify the determinants of the self-employed immigrant and native men in Germany. Their making is surprisingly alike. Employing data from the German Socioeconomic Panel 2000 (GSOEP) release we find that self-employment is not significantly affected by exposure to Germany or by human capital. But this choice has a very strong intergenerational link and it is also related to homeownership and financial worries. While individuals are strongly pulled into self-employment if it offers higher earnings, immigrants are additionally pushed into self-employment when they feel discriminated. Married immigrants are more likely to go into self-employment, but less likely when they have young children. Immigrants with foreign passports living in ethnic households are more likely self-employed than native Germans. The earnings of self-employed men increase with exposure to Germany, hours worked and occupational prestige; they decrease with high regional unemployment to vacancies ratios. Everything else equal, the earnings of self-employed Germans are not much different from the earnings of the self-employed immigrants, including those who have become German citizens. However, immigrants suffer a strong earnings penalty if they feel discriminated against while they receive a premium if they are German educated. Copyright Springer 2006

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11187-005-3004-6
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Publisher Info
Article provided by Springer in its journal Small Business Economics.

Volume (Year): 26 (2006)
Issue (Month): 3 (04)
Pages: 279-300
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Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:26:y:2006:i:3:p:279-300

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Related research
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; immigrants; occupational choice; self-employment; wage differentials; J23; M13; J24; J61; J31;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Taylor, Mark P, 1996. "Earnings, Independence or Unemployment: Why Become Self-Employed?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 58(2), pages 253-66, May.
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  2. Basu, Anuradha, 1998. " An Exploration of Entrepreneurial Activity among Asian Small Businesses in Britain," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 313-26, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Borooah, Vani K & Hart, Mark, 1999. " Factors Affecting Self-Employment among Indian and Black Caribbean Men in Britain," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 111-29, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Justin van der Sluis & Mirjam van Praag & Wim Vijverberg, 2003. "Entrepreneurship Selection and Performance," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 03-046/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 24 Sep 2004. [Downloadable!]
  5. George J. Borjas, 1986. "The Self-Employment Experience of Immigrants," NBER Working Papers 1942, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew & Stutzer, Alois, 2001. "Latent entrepreneurship across nations," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 680-691, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Le, Anh T, 1999. " Empirical Studies of Self-Employment," Journal of Economic Surveys, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 13(4), pages 381-416, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Clark, Kenneth & Drinkwater, Stephen, 1998. "Ethnicity and Self-Employment in Britain," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 60(3), pages 383-407, August.
  9. Rees, Hedley & Shah, Anup, 1986. "An Empirical Analysis of Self-employment in the U.K," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 1(1), pages 95-108, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Lofstrom, Magnus, 1999. "Labor Market Assimilation and the Self-Employment Decision of Immigrant Entrepreneurs," IZA Discussion Papers 54, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  11. Zimmermann, Klaus F, 1995. "Tackling the European Migration Problems," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 45-62, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Evans, David S & Leighton, Linda S, 1989. "Some Empirical Aspects of Entrepreneurship," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(3), pages 519-35, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Simon C. Parker, 2003. "Does Tax Evasion Affect Occupational Choice?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 65(3), pages 379-394, 07. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. SOEP Group, 2001. "The German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) after More than 15 Years: Overview," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 70(1), pages 7-14.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Andrew Burke & Felix FitzRoy & Michael Nolan, 2008. "What makes a die-hard entrepreneur? Beyond the ‘employee or entrepreneur’ dichotomy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 93-115, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Pernilla Andersson & Eskil Wadensjö, 2006. "Employees Who Become Self-Employed: Do Labour Income and Wages Have an Impact?," IZA Discussion Papers 1971, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  3. Daniela Glocker & Viktor Steiner, 2007. "Self-Employment - a Way to End Unemployment?: Empirical Evidence from German Pseudo-Panel Data," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 661, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Dorothea Schäfer & Oleksandr Talavera, 2006. "Small-Scale Business Survival and Inheritance: Evidence from Germany," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 636, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  5. Bonin, Holger & Constant, Amelie & Tatsiramos, Konstantinos & Zimmermann, Klaus F, 2006. "Native-Migrant Differences in Risk Attitudes," CEPR Discussion Papers 5587, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Dorothea Schäfer & Oleksandr Talavera, 2009. "Small business survival and inheritance: evidence from Germany," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 95-109, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Danzer, Alexander M. & Ulku, Hulya, 2008. "Determinants of Integration and its Impact on the Economic Success of Immigrants: A Case Study of the Turkish Community in Berlin," IZA Discussion Papers 3762, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Constant, Amelie F., 2008. "Businesswomen in Germany and Their Performance by Ethnicity: It Pays to Be Self-Employed," IZA Discussion Papers 3644, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Amelie Constant & Yochanan Shachmurove, 2005. "The comparison of incomes of self-employed and salaried workers among German Nationals and immigrants," PIER Working Paper Archive 05-030, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania. [Downloadable!]
  10. P. Mueller, 2006. "Entrepreneurship in the Region: Breeding Ground for Nascent Entrepreneurs?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 41-58, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Jana Bruder & Solvig Räthke-Döppner, 2008. "Ethnic Minority Self-Employment in Germany: Geographical Distribution and Determinants of Regional Variation," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 100, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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