We study the role of the business cycle in the individual decision of own-account workers to hire employees. Using panel data from the European Community Household Panel for the EU-15 countries, we show that own-account workers are less likely to hire employees during recessions. Next, we focus...

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is a research program executed annually with the aim to obtain internationally comparative high quality research data on entrepreneurial activity at the national level. This academic research consortium started as a partnership between the London...

We examined the relationship between firm births and job creation in Great Britain. We used a new data set for 60 British regions, covering the whole of Great Britain, between 1980 and 1998. The relationship between new firm start-ups and employment growth has previously been examined either...

Start-up size is a key strategic decision for entrepreneurs. Should entrepreneurs start up close to minimum efficient scale or should they take less risks and start-up on a smaller scale? Previously, this strategic decision appeared to be one of simply making a choice between a higher...

Many regional development policy initiatives assume that entrepreneurial activities promote economic growth. Empirical research has presented rationale for this argument showing that small firms create proportionally more new jobs than large ones. However, little research has been performed on...

Given the big employment losses in the current economic and financial crisis, not only the creation of new jobs is important for economic and social welfare, but also the conservation of existing jobs. In this respect, it is crucial that firms which employ personnel, survive. In this paper we...

This paper investigates whether start-up motivation (opportunity versus necessity) influences entrepreneurial performance of an important subset of entrepreneurs, viz. the solo self-employed. We also explore to what extent human capital measures mediate this relation. We use a unique...

We investigate the interplay between entrepreneurial activity, the business cycle and unemployment in relation to the openness of the economy. Also, we explore to what extent the observation frequency (quarterly versus annual data) influences estimation results. Following empirical literature,...

This paper examines the impact of employment protection legislation (EPL) on hiring decisions by own-account workers and firing decisions by very small firms (1-4 employees). Using data from the EU-15 countries, our results show that the strictness of employment protection legislation is...

In 2010 was 7,2% van alle Nederlanders in de leeftijdscategorie 18-64 jaar bezig om een nieuw bedrijf op te richten of actief als ondernemer van een bedrijf dat korter dan 3,5 jaar bestaat. Hiermee heeft Nederland vorig jaar voor het eerst de koppositie ingenomen van de EU-landen die deelnemen...