Self-employment and intergenerational transfers of physical and human capital: an empirical analysis of French data

Abstract

Using The 1991 French Household Survey of Financial Assets, we examine the determinants of self-employment using data on intergenerational transfers of wealth, education, informal human capital and a range of demographic variables. We find evidence of the importance played by the family in the decision to enter self-employment. Intergenerational transfers of wealth, familial transfers of human capital and the structure of the family are determining factors in the decision to move from wage work into entrepreneurship. We also find robust evidence that a person is less likely to move into self-employment if he obtains a third level education. Thus the higher education system in Prance appears to mitigate against the movement into self-employment from wage work.