UNU-WIDER Entrepreneurship and Welfare

We examine returns to entrepreneurship using a standard measure of welfare, the per capita consumption xpenditure. Using quantile regressions, we find welfare hierarchy in occupations. The results suggest that, across the welfare distribution, entrepreneurs who employ others have the high-test returns in terms of consumption, while those entrepreneurs who work for themselves, that is, self-employed individuals, have slightly lower returns than the salaried employees. However, self-employment entails higher returns than casual labour and an escape from poverty.