@article{FritschKritikosPijnenburg2015, author = {Fritsch, Michael and Kritikos, Alexander and Pijnenburg, Katharina}, title = {Business cycles, unemployment and entrepreneurial entry-evidence from Germany}, series = {International entrepreneurship and management journal}, volume = {11}, journal = {International entrepreneurship and management journal}, number = {2}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {1554-7191}, doi = {10.1007/s11365-014-0326-3}, pages = {267 -- 286}, year = {2015}, abstract = {We investigate whether people are more willing to become self-employed during boom periods or during recessions and to what extent business cycles and unemployment levels influence entries into entrepreneurship. Our analysis for Germany reveals that there is a positive relationship between unemployment rates and start-up activities. Moreover, new business formation is higher during recessions than in boom periods, implying that it is counter-cyclical. When disentangling periods of low and high unemployment we find that the effect of unemployment on new business formation is only statistically significant if the level of unemployment is below the trend, indicating a "low unemployment retain effect".}, language = {en} } @article{FritschKritikosSorgner2015, author = {Fritsch, Michael and Kritikos, Alexander and Sorgner, Alina}, title = {Why did self-employment increase so strongly in Germany?}, series = {Entrepreneurship and regional development}, volume = {27}, journal = {Entrepreneurship and regional development}, number = {5-6}, publisher = {Routledge, Taylor \& Francis Group}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {0898-5626}, doi = {10.1080/08985626.2015.1048310}, pages = {307 -- 333}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Germany experienced a unique rise in the level of self-employment in the first two decades following unification. Applying the nonlinear Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique, we find that the main factors driving these changes in the overall level of self-employment are demographic developments, the shift towards service sector employment and a larger share of population holding a tertiary degree. While these factors explain most of the development in self-employment with employees and the overall level of self-employment in West Germany, their explanatory power is much lower for the stronger increase in solo self-employment and in self-employment in former socialist East Germany.}, language = {en} }