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Are the self-employed really jacks-of-all-trades? Testing the assumptions and implications of Lazear’s theory of entrepreneurship with German data

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  • Daniel Lechmann
  • Claus Schnabel

Abstract

Using a large representative German data set and various concepts of self-employment, this paper tests the “jack-of-all-trades” view of entrepreneurship by Lazear (Am Econ Rev 94(2): 208–211, 2004 ). Consistent with its theoretical assumptions we find that self-employed individuals perform more tasks and that their work requires more skills than that of paid employees. In contrast to Lazear’s assumptions, however, self-employed individuals do not just need more basic but also more expert skills than employees. Our results also provide rather limited support for the idea that human capital investment patterns differ between those who become self-employed and those ending up in paid employment. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Lechmann & Claus Schnabel, 2014. "Are the self-employed really jacks-of-all-trades? Testing the assumptions and implications of Lazear’s theory of entrepreneurship with German data," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 59-76, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:42:y:2014:i:1:p:59-76
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-012-9464-6
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entrepreneurship; Self-employed; Jack-of-all-trades; Germany; J23; J24; L26;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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