Is entrepreneurship a leading or lagging indicator of the business cycle? Evidence from UK self-employment data

Abstract

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.