Self-Employment Dynamics and the Returns to Entrepreneurship
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES SELF-EMPLOYMENT DYNAMICS AND THE RETURNS TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP Eleanor W. Dillon Christopher T. Stanton Working Paper 23168 http://www.nber.org/papers/w23168 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 February 2017 We thank Kelly Bishop, Luis Garicano, Erik Hurst, Bill Kerr, Edward Lazear, David de Meza, Robert Miller, Ramana Nanda, Paul Oyer, Luis Rayo, Yona Rubinstein, Nathan Seegert, Jeff Smith, Chris Taber, Galina Vereschagina, Matthew Wiswall, and seminar and conference participants at Arizona State University, IZA, the London School of Economics, the NBER Summer Institute, the Utah Winter Business Economics Conference, Wisconsin, and Wharton for helpful comments. All errors are our own. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications. © 2017 by Eleanor W. Dillon and Christopher T. Stanton. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Self-Employment Dynamics and the Returns to Entrepreneurship Eleanor W. Dillon and Christopher T. Stanton NBER Working Paper No. 23168 February 2017 JEL No. J24,J31,J62,L26,M50 ABSTRACT Small business owners and others in self-employment have the option to transition to paid work. If there is initial uncertainty about entrepreneurial earnings, this option increases the expected lifetime value of self-employment relative to pay in a single year.
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