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on Entrepreneurship |
| By: | Ganserer, Angelika (ZEW Mannheim); Gregory, Terry (REWE Group); Zierahn, Ulrich (ZEW Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | Solo self-employment is on the rise despite less favorable working conditions compared to traditional jobs. We show that the introduction of minimum wages in German industries led to an increase in the share of solo self-employment by up to 8.5 percentage points. We explain our findings within a substitution-scale model that predicts a decline in demand and earnings perspectives for high-skilled dependent workers, whenever the negative scale effect (overall decline in industry employment) dominates the positive substitution effect (shift towards high-skilled workers). Such situations can occur during an economic downturn in combination with a strong and rising minimum wage bite. |
| Keywords: | synthetic control method, solo self-employment, minimum wages |
| JEL: | J21 J31 J38 J08 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15283&r= |
| By: | Marco Caliendo (University of Potsdam, IZA Bonn, DIW Berlin, IAB Nuremberg); Daniel Graeber (DIW Berlin, University of Potsdam); Alexander S. Kritikos (DIW Berlin, University of Potsdam, IAB Nuremberg, IZA Bonn); Johannes Seebauer (DIW Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-employed people’s mental health. Using representative longitudinal survey data from Germany, we reveal differential effects by gender: whereas self-employed women experienced a substantial deterioration in their mental health, self-employed men displayed no significant changes up to early 2021. Financial losses are important in explaining these differences. In addition, we find larger mental health responses among self-employed women who were directly affected by government-imposed restrictions and bore an increased childcare burden due to school and daycare closures. We also find that self-employed individuals who are more resilient coped better with the crisis. |
| Keywords: | self-employment, COVID-19, mental health, gender, representative longitudinal survey data, PHQ-4 score, resilience |
| JEL: | L26 D31 I14 I18 J16 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pot:cepadp:46&r= |
| By: | Boris Gershman |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a new global dataset on contemporary witchcraft beliefs and investigates their correlates. Witchcraft beliefs cut across socio-demographic groups but are less widespread among the more educated and economically secure. Country-level variation in the prevalence of witchcraft beliefs is systematically linked to a number of cultural, institutional, psychological, and socioeconomic characteristics. Consistent with their hypothesized function of maintaining order and cohesion in the absence of effective governance mechanisms, witchcraft beliefs are more widespread in countries with weak institutions and correlate positively with conformist culture and in-group bias. Among the documented potential costs of witchcraft beliefs are disrupted social relations, high levels of anxiety, pessimistic worldview, lack of entrepreneurial culture and innovative activity. |
| Keywords: | Conformity, Culture, Development, Happiness, Innovation, Institutions, Religion, Social capital, Witchcraft beliefs |
| JEL: | I31 O10 O31 O43 O57 Z10 Z12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amu:wpaper:2022-06&r= |
| By: | Ryan A. Decker; John Haltiwanger |
| Abstract: | The economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic brought new focus to questions about business entry and survival. The spring of 2020 was characterized by widespread fear of surging business exit (death). |
| Date: | 2022–05–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfn:2022-05-06-2&r= |