TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sorgner, Alina
A1  - Fritsch, Michael
A1  - Kritikos, Alexander
T1  - Do entrepreneurs really earn less?
JF  - Small business economics : an international journal
N2  - Based on large representative German household survey data, we compare incomes of the self-employed with those of paid employees. We find that the entrepreneurial income gap is largest for those holding a tertiary degree, but in two directions: positive for employers (self-employed with further employees) and negative for solo entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs holding a tertiary degree also face the greatest income variation. However, some solo self-employed earn more than their employed counterparts, in particular those with a university entrance degree as the highest level of education.
KW  - Income
KW  - Entrepreneurship
KW  - Self-employment
KW  - Germany
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-017-9874-6
SN  - 0921-898X
SN  - 1573-0913
VL  - 49
SP  - 251
EP  - 272
PB  - Springer
CY  - Dordrecht
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Konon, Alexander
A1  - Fritsch, Michael
A1  - Kritikos, Alexander
T1  - Business cycles and start-ups across industries
BT  - An empirical analysis of German regions
JF  - Journal of Business Venturing Insights
N2  - We analyze whether start-up rates in different industries systematically change with business cycle variables. Using a unique data set at the industry level, we mostly find correlations that are consistent with counter-cyclical influences of the business cycle on entries in both innovative and non-innovative industries. Entries into the large-scale industries, including the innovative part of manufacturing, are only influenced by changes in the cyclical component of unemployment, while entries into small-scale industries, like knowledge intensive services, are mostly influenced by changes in the cyclical component of GDP. Thus, our analysis suggests that favorable conditions in terms of high GDP might not be germane for start-ups. Given that both innovative and non-innovative businesses react counter-cyclically in ‘regular’ recessions, business formation may have a stabilizing effect on the economy.
KW  - New business formation
KW  - Entrepreneurship
KW  - Business cycle
KW  - Manufacturing
KW  - Services
KW  - Innovative industries
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2018.04.006
SN  - 0883-9026
SN  - 1873-2003
VL  - 33
IS  - 6
SP  - 742
EP  - 761
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fritsch, Michael
A1  - Kritikos, Alexander
A1  - Sorgner, Alina
T1  - Why did self-employment increase so strongly in Germany?
JF  - Entrepreneurship and regional development
N2  - 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.
KW  - self-employment
KW  - nonlinear Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique
KW  - entrepreneurship
KW  - Germany
KW  - L26
KW  - D22
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2015.1048310
SN  - 0898-5626
SN  - 1464-5114
VL  - 27
IS  - 5-6
SP  - 307
EP  - 333
PB  - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
CY  - Abingdon
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fritsch, Michael
A1  - Kritikos, Alexander
A1  - Pijnenburg, Katharina
T1  - Business cycles, unemployment and entrepreneurial entry-evidence from Germany
JF  - International entrepreneurship and management journal
N2  - 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".
KW  - Self-employment
KW  - Business cycle
KW  - Unemployment
KW  - Start-up
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-014-0326-3
SN  - 1554-7191
SN  - 1555-1938
VL  - 11
IS  - 2
SP  - 267
EP  - 286
PB  - Springer
CY  - New York
ER  -