Self-employment and the Okun's law

María Porras and Ángel Martín-Román ()

Economic Modelling, 2019, vol. 77, issue C, 253-265

Abstract: This research establishes a significant relationship between the share of self-employment in total employment and the Okun's coefficient, which had been insufficiently addressed in the literature. We provide evidence on the determinants driving the differences in the unemployment–output relationship in Spanish regions and conclude that the differences in the share of self-employment in total employment prove relevant when accounting for differences in Okun's law, and its effect is greater than that of labour productivity per worker, which had been considered the main factor for regional discrepancies. The economic policy implications of this outcome are valuable for two reasons: European authorities are promoting self-employment and the emergence of the ‘gig economy’. This finding also opens a notable line of research: assessing whether this empirical regularity is observable in other economies.

Keywords: Okun's law; Self-employment; Unemployment; Business cycle; Spanish regions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 E24 J64 R11 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:77:y:2019:i:c:p:253-265

DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2018.09.006

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