Do economic recessions and high unemployment lead to more business start-ups or are people more likely to become self-employed in periods of economic prosperity? Our analysis for Germany reveals that the cyclical component of real GDP has a negative effect on start-up activities. Moreover, the...

Drawing on representative household data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we examine the role of an early precursor of entrepreneurial development - parental role models - for the individual decision to become self-employed in the post-unified Germany. The findings suggest that the...