By Jorge Velila gambo, Jose Alberto Molina you Jose Ignacio Gimenez Nadal

Although the transmission of socioeconomic characteristics such as wealth and income, labor supply and even migration decisions are also investigated.

In this context, understanding what characteristics can be transmitted from one generation to another can be very useful from an economic policy point of view.

For example, policies aimed at reducing poverty and inequality can be designed and implemented more efficiently if it is known which individuals are more likely to transmit certain characteristics, good or bad, that determine the socioeconomic and labor future of their children.

Self-employed, options for unemployment

We have analyzed the intergenerational transmission of self-employment between parents and children in Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the UK and Sweden.

The transmission of self-employment is particularly attractive in Europe because, during the last economic crisis, unemployment rates have grown alarmingly in some European economies and self-employment has become an alternative employment for people who cannot find work as wage earners.

Entrepreneurial transmission in Europe has been analyzed previously, but on the basis of specific countries, with different methodologies and data, which has yielded very different results.

Instead, the main aim of our work is to analyze how self-employment is transmitted across a group of countries, using a common methodology and homogeneous data, which provides a harmonized view of the transmission of self-employment and how it varies from country to country. to the country. in a country. To do this, we use survey data.EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions

Europe’s premier compilation of statistics on income, social inclusion and living conditions.

Entrepreneur in inheritance

Our results show, first, that intergenerational transmission of entrepreneurship exists and is statistically significant.

Second, we found that this transmission was especially important for men: men whose father was or was a self-employed worker were 15.7% more likely to be self-employed than men of the same demographic whose father was not self-employed. .

Among women, those whose mothers were or were self-employed in the past were about 9.2% more likely to be self-employed, compared with other women with the same characteristics but whose mothers were not or self-employed.

In addition to these differences between men and women, we find that the intergenerational transmission of entrepreneurship varies from country to country, as shown below.

Context and culture

1. Finally, we analyze two possible channels that could explain the intergenerational transmission of entrepreneurship and the differences found between countries.
2. We study the legal and bureaucratic context associated with starting a new business. In areas where this is more profitable, entrepreneurial transmission may be more persistent.

We analyze entrepreneurial culture. Areas where self-employment is a more socially and culturally valued condition may not only present higher levels of self-employment, but also a greater tendency for children of self-employed workers to be self-employed as well.

• Using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, we conclude that:
• In countries where the culture and legal context associated with entrepreneurship is better, the transmission of entrepreneurship is greater.

The legal context is a channel that is qualitatively and quantitatively more important than entrepreneurial culture and is related to entrepreneurship and start-up companies.

Entrepreneurial spirit

In recent years, entrepreneurship has been promoted by various agencies as a tool to combat the devastating effects of the recent crisis.

Our results suggest that self-employed parents are more likely to have children who are also self-employed, with this transmission being particularly relevant among boys. Moreover, it is positively impacted in an environment where the legal and bureaucratic context favors the establishment of new businesses.

Facilitating the creation of new businesses, both legally and bureaucratically, can increase the level of entrepreneurship, as it is an additional incentive to set up their own business for both new entrepreneurs and those whose parents own or own a business. . Jorge Velilla Gambo this Assistant Doctoral Professor, University of Zaragoza; Jose Alberto Molina this Professor, University of Zaragoza; you Jose Ignacio Gimenez Nadal

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