In the present paper we address the relationship between the extentof business ownership (self-employment) and economic development. We will focusupon three issues. First, how is the equilibrium rate of business ownershiprelated to the stage of economic development? Second, what is the speed...

This paper revisits the two-equation model of Carree, van Stel, Thurik and Wennekers (2002) where deviations from the ‘equilibrium’ rate of business ownership play a central role determining both the growth of business ownership and that of economic development. Two extensions of the...

Following a centuries-long decline in the rate of self-employment, a discontinuity in this downward trend is observed for many advanced economies starting in the 1970s and 1980s. In some countries, the rate of self-employment appears to increase. At the same time, crosssectional analysis shows a...