We develop an equilibrium model where risk-averse agents can choose between employment and entrepreneurship. An important property of our framework is that the effort of agents is not observable (moral hazard), so that optimal employment contracts must be incentive compatible. In equilibrium we...

Education is argued to be an important driver of the decision to start a business. The measurement of its influence, however, is difficult since it is considered to be an endogenous variable. This study accounts for this endogeneity by using an instrumental variables approachand a data set of...

Often, a person will become an entrepreneur only after a period of dependent employment, suggesting that occupational choices precede entrepreneurial choices. We investigate the relationship between occupational choice and self-employment. The findings suggest that the occupational choice of...

This paper extends the (Lucas, Bell J Econ 9:508-523,1978) model of occupational choices by individuals with different skills, beyond the simple options of self-employment or wage-employment, by including a second choice for the self-employed. That is, an option to hire employees and so become...

Often, a person will become an entrepreneur only after a period of dependent employment, suggesting that occupational choices precede entrepreneurial choices. We investigate the relationship between occupational choice and self-employment. The findings suggest that the occupational choice of...

The self-employed and entrepreneurs form a heterogeneous group: some individuals are pushed to become self-employed because they cannot find a job as employees, while others voluntarily choose self-employment to exploit business opportunities; among those who choose by opportunity, some hire...

Often, a person will become an entrepreneur only after a period of dependent employment, suggesting that occupational choices precede entrepreneurial choices. We investigate the relationship between occupational choice and self-employment. The findings suggest that the occupational choice of...

In this paper we extend models of market equilibrium from binary occupational choices of people with different entrepreneurial ability, to the realistic case that entrepreneurs can decide whether they hire workers and become employers or whether they become own account self-employed. We find...