Economic growth and unemployment exhibit an ambiguous relationship – according to empirical studies. This ambiguity can be investigated by observing the role of the underground economy in shaping the productivity of firms. Indeed, unemployment may be absorbed by underground firms, which adopt...

In 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Small Business Administration implemented Project GATE, an experimental demonstration program designed to provide free self-employment assistance to individuals interested in starting their own business. This paper uses data from Project GATE to...

This paper uses data from Project GATE to examine the efficacy of offering free self-employment assistance to unemployed individuals interested in self-employment, overall and by race. We also examine the effect of participants’ self-employment background, finances, and personal circumstances...

This paper presents new evidence on the efficacy of self-employment training programs using data from Project GATE (Growing America Through Entrepreneurship). Project GATE was an experimental design demonstration program that offered free self-employment training to a random sample of...

A matching model will explain both unemployment and economic growth by considering the underground sector. Three problems can thus be simultaneously accounted for: (i) the persistence of underground economy, (ii) the ambiguous relationships between underground employment and unemployment, and...