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The Relationship between Entrepreneurship and Unemployment: is Portugal an Outlier?

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  • Rui Baptista
  • Roy Thurik

Abstract

The present paper examines the relationship between entrepreneurship, as measured by the variation in business ownership rates, and unemployment in Portugal in the period from 1972-2002. It concludes that Portugal has been a relative outlier in regard to the effects of entrepreneurship on unemployment when compared with the OECD average. Although the nature of entrepreneurship may be different in the Portuguese case, due to a high proportion of "micro-businesses" created for subsistence which have little impact on growth and employment, this factor does not seem to be the primary reason for the observed discrepancies. The differences between observed levels of unemployment for Portugal and those predicted by a model based on OECD data seem to be mostly associated with macroeconomic fluctuations associated with European business cycles and EU "cohesion" funding, as well as with adjustment costs to new technology adoption which lead to productivity slowdowns, thus increasing the time lag for the effect of entrepreneurship on employment beyond the OECD average.

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  • Rui Baptista & Roy Thurik, 2004. "The Relationship between Entrepreneurship and Unemployment: is Portugal an Outlier?," Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy 2004-40, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group.
    • Handle: RePEc:esi:egpdis:2004-40
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    1. Thurik, A. Roy & Carree, Martin A. & van Stel, André & Audretsch, David B., 2008. "Does self-employment reduce unemployment?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 673-686, November.
    2. Rui Baptista & Vítor Escária & Paulo Madruga, 2008. "Entrepreneurship, regional development and job creation: the case of Portugal," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 49-58, January.
    3. Leitão, João & Ferreira, João, 2007. "Liberalization of European Telecommunications and Entrepreneurship: Why German and Portuguese Experiences are so Equal and so Different?," MPRA Paper 5728, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Carlos Carreira & Paulino Teixeira, 2011. "The shadow of death: analysing the pre-exit productivity of Portuguese manufacturing firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 337-351, April.
    5. Abigail Padi, 2022. "Effects of skill acquisition on entrepreneurship development: General systematic review and progress in Ghana," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 11(8), pages 113-127, November.
    6. Joanna Tyrowicz & Joanna Nestorowicz, 2010. "Cynicism Starts Young: Age and Entrepreneurship over Transition," Working Papers 2010-02, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    7. Faria, João Ricardo & Cuestas, Juan Carlos & Mourelle, Estefanía, 2010. "Entrepreneurship and unemployment: A nonlinear bidirectional causality?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1282-1291, September.
    8. Emilio Congregado & Vicente Esteve & Antonio A. Golpe, 2012. "Job Creation and the Self-employed Firm Size: evidence from Spain," Working Papers 1202, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.
    9. Aurora A.C. Teixeira & Todd Davey, 2008. "Attitudes of Higher Education students to new venture creation: a preliminary approach to the Portuguese case," FEP Working Papers 298, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.

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