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Self-Employment Matching: An Analysis of Dual Earner Couples and Working Households

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Abstract

This paper explores the significance of intra-couple and intra-household influences on self-employment. It may be the case that employment type matching is prevalent whereby individuals within a couple or household are characterised by similar types of employment. Alternatively, an individual may pool income risk with his/her partner by holding a diversified portfolio of employment types within the household thereby introducing an element of intra-household risk pooling. Such an arrangement may be particularly appropriate if one member of the couple is self-employed. We utilise ordered probit and random effects ordered probit analysis to explore the prevalence of employment matching and/or risk pooling within couples or households. Our empirical analysis which is based on cross-section data drawn from the British Family Expenditure Surveys 1996 to 2000 provides evidence of employment type matching both within dual earner couples and, to a lesser extent, in the wider context of working household members.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, University of Sheffield, 9 Mappin Street, Sheffield, S1 4DT, United Kingdom

    Sarah Brown

  2. Department of Economics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia

    Lisa Farrel

  3. Department of Economics and International Development, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom

    John G. Sessions

Authors
  1. Sarah Brown
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  2. Lisa Farrel
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  3. John G. Sessions
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Correspondence to Sarah Brown.

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Brown, S., Farrel, L. & Sessions, J.G. Self-Employment Matching: An Analysis of Dual Earner Couples and Working Households. Small Bus Econ 26, 155–172 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-004-6489-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-004-6489-5

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