IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/sbusec/v43y2014i3p549-569.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Female self-employment and children

Author

Listed:
  • Florian Noseleit

Abstract

Several analyses report a positive correlation between fertility and female self-employment; however, scholars disagree about the direction of this relationship. Knowing about the causal relationship is important because the relevant mechanisms and possible implications differ tremendously. This paper studies two competing hypotheses: Is self-employment more attractive to women because they have children? Or, is it occupation-specific characteristics of self-employed women that impact their fertility? This work applies a unique approach by utilizing exogenous variation in both children and self-employment. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Florian Noseleit, 2014. "Female self-employment and children," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 549-569, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:43:y:2014:i:3:p:549-569
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-014-9570-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11187-014-9570-8
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11187-014-9570-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johan Wiklund & Dean Shepherd, 2003. "Aspiring for, and Achieving Growth: The Moderating Role of Resources and Opportunities," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(8), pages 1919-1941, December.
    2. Sara Carter & Eleanor Shaw & Wing Lam & Fiona Wilson, 2007. "Gender, Entrepreneurship, and Bank Lending: The Criteria and Processes Used by Bank Loan Officers in Assessing Applications," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(3), pages 427-444, May.
    3. Peter J. Kuhn & Herb J. Schuetze, 2001. "Self-employment dynamics and self-employment trends: a study of Canadian men and women, 1982-1998," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 34(3), pages 760-784, August.
    4. Elizabeth Ty Wilde & Lily Batchelder & David T. Ellwood, 2010. "The Mommy Track Divides: The Impact of Childbearing on Wages of Women of Differing Skill Levels," NBER Working Papers 16582, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Patricia A. McManus, 2001. "Pathways into Self-Employment in the United States and Germany," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 70(1), pages 24-30.
    6. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 2-16, January.
    7. Eriksson, Tor & Moritz Kuhn, Johan, 2006. "Firm spin-offs in Denmark 1981-2000 -- patterns of entry and exit," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 1021-1040, September.
    8. Chiburis, Richard C. & Das, Jishnu & Lokshin, Michael, 2012. "A practical comparison of the bivariate probit and linear IV estimators," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 762-766.
    9. Warren Miller, 1992. "Personality traits and developmental experiences as antecedents of childbearing motivation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 29(2), pages 265-285, May.
    10. Michael Fritsch & Pamela Mueller, 2007. "The persistence of regional new business formation-activity over time – assessing the potential of policy promotion programs," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 299-315, June.
    11. Jan Bavel, 2010. "Choice of study discipline and the postponement of motherhood in Europe: The impact of expected earnings, gender composition, and family attitudes," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(2), pages 439-458, May.
    12. Robert Fairlie & Alicia Robb, 2009. "Gender differences in business performance: evidence from the Characteristics of Business Owners survey," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 375-395, December.
    13. Wellington, Alison J., 2006. "Self-employment: the new solution for balancing family and career?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 357-386, June.
    14. Cowling, Marc & Taylor, Mark, 2001. "Entrepreneurial Women and Men: Two Different Species?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 167-175, May.
    15. Angrist, Joshua D & Evans, William N, 1998. "Children and Their Parents' Labor Supply: Evidence from Exogenous Variation in Family Size," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 450-477, June.
    16. Ari Hyytinen & Mika Maliranta, 2008. "When Do Employees Leave Their Job for Entrepreneurship?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 110(1), pages 1-21, March.
    17. Nzinga Broussard & Ralph Chami & Gregory Hess, 2015. "(Why) Do self-employed parents have more children?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 297-321, June.
    18. Sue Birley & Caroline Moss & Peter Saunders, 1987. "Do Women Entrepreneurs Require Different Training?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 12(1), pages 27-36, July.
    19. Jane Waldfogel, 1998. "Understanding the "Family Gap" in Pay for Women with Children," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 137-156, Winter.
    20. Davidsson, Per, 1991. "Continued entrepreneurship: Ability, need, and opportunity as determinants of small firm growth," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 6(6), pages 405-429, November.
    21. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    22. P. Mueller, 2006. "Entrepreneurship in the Region: Breeding Ground for Nascent Entrepreneurs?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 41-58, August.
    23. Linda N. Edwards & Elizabeth Field-Hendrey, 2002. "Home-Based Work and Women's Labor Force Decisions," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(1), pages 170-200, January.
    24. Martin Andersson & Sierdjan Koster, 2011. "Sources of persistence in regional start-up rates--evidence from Sweden," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 179-201, January.
    25. Jovanovic, Boyan, 1982. "Selection and the Evolution of Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(3), pages 649-670, May.
    26. Rachel Connelly, 1992. "Self-employment and providing child care," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 29(1), pages 17-29, February.
    27. Lombard, Karen V, 2001. "Female Self-Employment and Demand for Flexible, Nonstandard Work Schedules," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(2), pages 214-237, April.
    28. Bronars, Stephen G & Grogger, Jeff, 1994. "The Economic Consequences of Unwed Motherhood: Using Twin Births as a Natural Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1141-1156, December.
    29. Fay, Michael & Williams, Lesley, 1993. "Gender bias and the availability of business loans," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 363-376, July.
    30. Beesley, M E & Hamilton, R T, 1984. "Small Firms' Seedbed Role and the Concept of Turbulence," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 217-231, December.
    31. Rosa, Peter & Carter, Sara & Hamilton, Daphne, 1996. "Gender as a Determinant of Small Business Performance: Insights from a British Study," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 8(6), pages 463-478, December.
    32. Parker, Simon C, 2009. "Why do small firms produce the entrepreneurs?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 484-494, June.
    33. Raquel Carrasco & Mette Ejrnæs, 2003. "Self-employment in Denmark and Spain: Institution, Economic Conditions and Gender differences," CAM Working Papers 2003-06, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Applied Microeconometrics.
    34. J. Stycos & Robert Weller, 1967. "Female working roles and fertility," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 4(1), pages 210-217, March.
    35. DeMartino, Richard & Barbato, Robert, 2003. "Differences between women and men MBA entrepreneurs: exploring family flexibility and wealth creation as career motivators," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 815-832, November.
    36. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice: Reply," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 27-28, January.
    37. Stuart, Toby & Sorenson, Olav, 2003. "The geography of opportunity: spatial heterogeneity in founding rates and the performance of biotechnology firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 229-253, February.
    38. Macpherson, David A., 1988. "Self-employment and married women," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 281-284.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Florian Noseleit, 2014. "The impact of childcare enrollment on women’s selection into self-employment," Working Papers 2014/15, Maastricht School of Management.
    2. Joseph Boniface Ajefu, 2019. "Does having children affect women’s entrepreneurship decision? Evidence from Nigeria," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 843-860, September.
    3. Katherine Lim, 2019. "Do American mothers use self-employment as a flexible work alternative?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 805-842, September.
    4. Lars Kolvereid, 2018. "Entrepreneurship among parents," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Francis J. Greene & Liang Han & Susan Marlow, 2013. "Like Mother, Like Daughter? Analyzing Maternal Influences upon Women's Entrepreneurial Propensity," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 37(4), pages 687-711, July.
    6. Carlianne Patrick & Heather Stephens & Amanda Weinstein, 2016. "Where are all the self-employed women? Push and pull factors influencing female labor market decisions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 365-390, March.
    7. Gary Akehurst & Enrique Simarro & Alicia Mas‐Tur, 2012. "Women entrepreneurship in small service firms: motivations, barriers and performance," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(15), pages 2489-2505, January.
    8. Takanori Adachi & Takanori Hisada, 2017. "Gender differences in entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship: an empirical analysis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 447-486, March.
    9. Cemal Eren Arbatlı & Quamrul H. Ashraf & Oded Galor & Marc Klemp, 2020. "Diversity and Conflict," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(2), pages 727-797, March.
    10. Joshua D. Angrist, 2004. "Treatment effect heterogeneity in theory and practice," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(494), pages 52-83, March.
    11. Niklas Elert, 2014. "What determines entry? Evidence from Sweden," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(1), pages 55-92, August.
    12. Frühwirth-Schnatter, Sylvia & Pamminger, Christoph & Weber, Andrea & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2014. "When Is The Best Time To Give Birth?," Economics Series 308, Institute for Advanced Studies.
    13. Nieto, Adrián, 2021. "Native-immigrant differences in the effect of children on the gender pay gap," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 654-680.
    14. Bütikofer, Aline & Jensen, Sissel & Salvanes, Kjell G., 2018. "The role of parenthood on the gender gap among top earners," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 103-123.
    15. Michael Fritsch & Michael Wyrwich, 2015. "The Persistence of Regional Entrepreneurship - Are all types of Self-Employment Equally Important?," Jena Economics Research Papers 2015-008, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    16. Hoang, Tuyen Thanh & Nguyen, Cuong Viet & Phung, Tung Duc, 2019. "Do Male CEOs Really Run Firms Better than Female Counterparts? New Evidence from Vietnam," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 60(2), pages 121-140, December.
    17. Henrik Kleven & Camille Landais & Jakob Egholt Søgaard, 2019. "Children and Gender Inequality: Evidence from Denmark," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 181-209, October.
    18. Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf & Weber, Andrea & Frühwirth-Schnatter, Sylvia & Pamminger, Christoph, 2014. "When Is The Best Time To Give Birth - Career Effects Of Early Birth Decisions," CEPR Discussion Papers 10132, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Stuetzer, Michael & Obschonka, Martin & Audretsch, David B. & Wyrwich, Michael & Rentfrow, Peter J. & Coombes, Mike & Shaw-Taylor, Leigh & Satchell, Max, 2016. "Industry structure, entrepreneurship, and culture: An empirical analysis using historical coalfields," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 52-72.
    20. Fitzenberger, Bernd & Sommerfeld, Katrin & Steffes, Susanne, 2013. "Causal effects on employment after first birth — A dynamic treatment approach," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 49-62.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Self-employment; Causality; Gender; Female entrepreneurship; Children; L26; M13; J13;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:43:y:2014:i:3:p:549-569. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.