Seminar series
Date:
Wednesday 2 May
Speaker:
George Saridakis (Loughborough University)
Title:
The Relationship between Self-employment and Unemployment in the
Long-Run: A Panel Cointegration Approach (Joint seminar with SPRU)
Abstract:
In this paper we examine the relationship between self-employment
and unemployment using panel cointegration methods and covering a
wide range of European OECD countries over the period 1990-2008. In
the literature it is argued that the relationship is ambiguous due to the
presence of two opposed effects: the recession push effect (suggesting
a counter-cyclical behaviour) and the prosperity pull effect (implying a
pro-cyclical pattern). Generally, our findings indicate that a positive and
statistically significant association between self-employment and
unemployment exists especially for Southern European and Western
European countries, with elasticities particularly high for Belgium,
United Kingdom and Spain. Thus, our work provides evidence for the
‘recession push’ hypothesis.