Testing the ‘Residential Rootedness’-Hypothesis of Self-Employment for Germany and the UK (discussion paper)

Testing the ‘Residential Rootedness’-Hypothesis of Self-Employment for Germany and the UK (discussion paper)

Reuschke, D.
Van Ham, M.

OTB Research Institute for the Built Environment

2011-10-01

Based on the notion that entrepreneurship is a ‘local event’, the literature argues that selfemployed workers and entrepreneurs are ‘rooted’ in place. This paper tests the ‘residential rootedness’-hypothesis of self-employment by examining for Germany and the UK whether the self-employed are less likely to move or migrate than employees. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-economic Panel Study (SOEP) and the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and accounting for transitions in employment status we found little evidence that the self-employed in Germany and the UK are more rooted in place than employees. Firstly, the self-employed are not less likely to move or migrate over the period 2001–08. Secondly, those who are currently self-employed are also not more likely to have remained in the same place over a period of three years (2008–06 and 2005–03) as compared to those who are currently employed. Thirdly, those who are continuously self-employed are not less likely to have moved or migrated over a 3-period than those in continuous paid employment. Fourthly, in contrast to the prevalent ‘residential rootedness’-hypothesis in economic geography and regional studies, we found that the entry into and the exit from selfemployment are associated with internal migration.

self-employment
migration
residential mobility
rootedness hypothesis
UK
Germany

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:16600424-de28-4009-bb0f-711a5514acd0

Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

IZA Discussion Paper 6062

Institutional Repository

journal article

(c) 2011 The Author(s)