Is entrepreneurship a leading or lagging indicator of the business cycle? Evidence from UK self-employment data
利用英国时间序列数据,研究自雇率(创业的常用衡量指标)与商业周期之间的因果关系,发现两者存在双向显著影响:创业既影响商业周期,也受其影响。
Previous studies provide suggestive evidence that entrepreneurship varies with the state of the business cycle. This article extends the knowledge base by exploring whether the rate of self-employment – a widely used measure of entrepreneurship – is a lagging or leading indicator of the business cycle. The study, which utilizes time series UK data on aggregate output, unemployment and self-employment rates, is robust to structural breaks in the cyclical relationships between these variables. The study finds evidence of significant bi-directional causality: that is, entrepreneurship both causes and is caused by business cycles. The covariance of entrepreneurship is positive with respect to output and negative with respect to unemployment.