International Conference on Self-Employment

sponsored by

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Canadian Employment Research Forum (CERF)
Canadian International Labour Network (CILN)

Venture Inn, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
September 24-26, 1998


THURSDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER

9:00 - 9:30       Coffee and Muffins

9:30 - 9:45       Opening Remarks: Sergio Arzeni (Head of OECD/LEED Programme), Peter Kuhn (CILN), Ging Wong (CERF)

9:45 - 11:30      SELF-EMPLOYMENT TRENDS: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES

Chair: Alice Nakamura (CERF Co-chair and University of Alberta)

Self-Employment Trends in OECD Countries: Evidence from Microdata
David Blanchflower* (Dartmouth College, U.S.A.) (R)

Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship in Transitional Economies: Measurements, Origins, Determinants, and Consequences
John S. Earle* (Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden) and Zuzana Sakova (Rutgers University, U.S.A.) (H)

The Role of Self-Employment in Job Creation in Canada and the United States
Zhengxi Lin (Statistics Canada), Marilyn Manser (U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics) and Garnett Picot* (Statistics Canada) (R)

Discussants: W. Craig Riddell (University of British Columbia) and Susan Horton (University of Toronto) [Note: initials in parentheses - (R), (H) denote the allocation of discussants to papers.]

11:30 - 1:00      Lunch

1:00 - 2:30       COUNTRY STUDIES I

Chair: Sergio Arzeni (Head of OECD/LEED Programme)

Self-Employment in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Carmel Duggan (WRC Social and Economic Consultants Ltd) (B,Y)

Self-Employment in France
François Hurel (APCE) and Henri Le Marois* (ESPACE) (Y)

Self-Employment in Denmark
Peter Plougmann (Danish Technological Institute) (B)

Discussants: Anders Bjorklund (Swedish Institute of Social Research) and Gabriela Perez Yarahuan (Secretaria de Desarrollo Social, Mexico)

2:30 - 3:00       Coffee

3:00 - 4:30       COUNTRY STUDIES II

Chair: Kenneth Kerr (HRDC, Vice-President of OECD/LEED Committee)

Self-Employment in Mexico
Norma Samaniego (Universidad Iberoamericana) (H)

Self-Employment in Italy
Fiorenza Belussi (Padua University) (B)

Self-Employment in Australia
Bruce Chapman* and Bob Gregory (Australian National University) (W)

Discussants: Susan Horton (University of Toronto), Carl Borgomeo (OECD-LEED Delegate, Italy) and Chris Worswick (University of Melbourne)

5:30 - 7:00:      Conference Dinner

FRIDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER

8:00 - 8:30       Coffee and Muffins

8:30 - 10:30     SELF-EMPLOYMENT DYNAMICS OVER THE BUSINESS AND THE LIFE CYCLE

Chair: Irene Ip (Bank of Canada)

The Transition into Self-Employment: The Importance of Involuntary Separation and Unemployment Duration
Carol S. Moore (Center for Naval Analysis) and Richard E. Mueller* (University of Maine) (B)

Explaining the Recent Rise in Self-Employment: Lifecycle, Cohort and Aggregate Economy Effects
Danny Leung and Chris Robinson* (University of Western Ontario, Canada) (B)

The Entry and Exit Dynamics of Self-Employment in Canada
Zhengxi Lin*, Janice Yates and Garnett Picot (Statistics Canada) (J)

Discussants: Stephen Jones (McMaster University) and John Burbidge (McMaster University)

10:30 - 11:00     Coffee

11:00 - 12:00     TAXES AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT

Chair: Paavo Saikkonen (Ministry of Labour, Finland, Vice-President of OECD/LEED Committee)

Effects of the United States Tax System on Transitions into Self-Employment
Donald Bruce (Syracuse University, New York)

Self-Employment Trends in the USA and Canada: Effects of Taxes and Macroeconomic Conditions
Herb Schuetze (McMaster University, Ontario, Canada)

Discussant: Alan Macnaughton (University of Waterloo)

12:00 - 1:30      Lunch

1:30 - 3:00       LIQUIDITY CONSTRAINTS AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT

Chair: David Blanchflower (Dartmouth College)

Self-Employment and Windfall Gains: Evidence from British Panel Data
Mark Taylor (ESRC Research Centre on Micro-social Change, University of Essex, England) (S)

The Effect of Peer-Group Lending and Social Capital on the Performance of the Small-Scale Self-Employed
Ralph Gomez (University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada) (S)

Spin-offs in France
Jean-Francois Rocchi (SOFIREM, France) (R)

ILO Action Program "Enterprise Creation by the Unemployed and the Role of Microfinance in Industrialised Countries"
Bernd Balkenhol (International Labour Organisation, Geneva) (M)

Discussant: Arthur Sweetman (University of Victoria), Marvin Ryder (McMaster University) and Richard Muller (U.S. Department of Labor)

3:00 - 3:30       Coffee

3:30 - 5:30       GENDER AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT

Chair: Roberta Robb (Brock University)

Do Husbands Matter? Married Women Entering Self-Employment
Donald Bruce, (Syracuse University, New York, U.S.A.) (A)

Gender and Self Employment Dynamics in Canada: 1983-1994
Peter Kuhn and Herb Schuetze*, McMaster University (W)

Consequences of Self-Employment for Women and Men in the United States
Donald Williams (Kent State University, Ohio, U.S.A.)
(A)

Self-Employment among Unmarried Fathers and Implications for Child Support Policies
Lauren Rich (University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) (W)

Discussants: Chris Worswick (University of Melbourne) and Heather Antecol (McMaster University)

6:30 - 8:30       Reception

SATURDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER

8:15 - 8:45       Continental Breakfast

8:45 - 10:15      ETHNICITY, RACE AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT

Chair: Thomas Lemieux (CERF and Université de Montréal)

Trends in Self-Employment among White and Black Men in the US: 1910-1990
Robert Fairlie (University of California at Santa Cruz) and Bruce Meyer* (Northwestern University, Illinois) (M)

Pushed Out or Pulled In? Self-Employment Among Britain's Ethnic Minorities
Kenneth Clark* (University of Manchester, England) and Stephen Drinkwater (University of Portsmouth, England) (M)

Pursuit of Self-Employment, Immigration and Visible Minority Status
Fernando Mata* and Ravi Pendakur (Heritage Canada, Ottawa) (B)

Black-White Differences in Access to Small Business Loans
David Blanchflower (Dartmouth College, U.S.A.) (B)

Discussants: Stephen Machin (University College London) and Dwayne Benjamin (University of Toronto)

10:15 - 10:30     Coffee

10:30 - 12:30     SELF-EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE

Chair: Stephen Wandner (U.S. Department of Labor)

German Business Start-ups from Unemployment - An Empirical Analysis with Firm Data
Friedhelm Pfeiffer* and Frank Reize (Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim) (H)

Promoting Self-Employment Among the Unemployed in Hungary and Poland
Christopher O'Leary (W.E. Upjohn Institute of Employment Research, Michigan) (H)

Self-Employment Assistance in the United States: Results from Six States
Wayne Vroman* (Urban Institute, Washington, D.C.) and Stephen Wandner (U.S. Department of Labor) (S)

Earnings Impact of Self-Employment Assistance for the Canadian Unemployed, 1987-1996
Ging Wong*, Harold Henson and Christopher Riddell (Human Resources Development Canada, Ottawa) (S)

Discussants: John Ham (University of Pittsburgh) and Jeffrey Smith (University of Western Ontario)

* Presenter


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