Socio-economic Development of Self-Employment in Europe

Project Directors Prof. Dr. Dres. h.c. Walter Müller Project Staff Silvia Luber Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung, MZES-funded 1998 – 2002

Research question/goal:

Since the 1980s the rate and number of self-employed workers increased in almost every Western European country. This growth has strongly influenced the recent debate about the replacement of traditional forms of employment. Further, it has raised the question about the causes of this increase. The project conducts a systematic comparative analysis in several European societies to describe the development in the various countries and to explain the differences between these countries in the context of specific national structures of incentives and opportunities for self-employed work. Of specific interest also are the implications of the developments for the composition in terms of social characteristics of the self-employed workers and their position in the social structure of advanced societies.

Publications

Books

  • Luber, Silvia (2003): Beruflich Selbständigkeit im Wandel. Ein empirischer Vergleich der sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Struktur Selbständiger in Deutschland und Großbritannien. 391, 291. Frankfurt, Peter Lang. More

Edited Books

  • Arum, Richard, Walter Müller (Eds.) (2004): The Reemergence of Self-Employment. A comparative study of self-employment dynamics and social inequality. 466. Princeton and Oxford, Princeton University Press. More
  • Müller, Walter, Henning Lohmann, Silvia Luber (Eds.) (2001): Self-employment in Advanced Economies (III)+(IV). 1+2, Amonk, NY, Sharpe. More
  • Müller, Walter, Henning Lohmann, Silvia Luber (Eds.) (2000): Self-employment in Advanced Economies (I)+(II) . 3+4, Amonk, NY, Sharpe. More

Book Chapters

  • Schmid, Günther, Markus Gangl, Peter Kupka (Eds.) Lohmann, Henning (2004): Berufliche Selbständigkeit von Frauen und Männern im internationalen Vergleich - Welche Rolle spielt die Vereinbarkeit von Familie und Erwerbstätigkeit?. 205-226. Nürnberg, IAB. More
  • Arum, Richard, Walter Müller (Eds.) Lohmann, Henning, Silvia Luber (2004): Trends in self-employment in Germany: different types, different developments?. 36-74. Princeton and Oxford, Princeton University Press. More
  • Arum, Richard, Walter Müller (2004): The Reemergence of Self-Employment: Comparative Findings and Empirical Propositions. 426-454. Princeton and Oxford, Princeton University Press. More
  • Müller, Walter, Richard Arum (2004): Self-Employment Dynamics in Advanced Economies. 1-35. Princeton and Oxford, Princeton University Press. More
  • Arum, Richard, Walter Müller (2004): Preface. XV-XVII. Princeton and Oxford, Princeton University Press. More
  • Müller, Walter (Eds.) Gangl, Markus (2003): Returns to education in context: individual education and transition outcomes in European labour markets. 156-185. Oxford, Oxford University Press. More
  • Eichmann, Hubert, Isabelle Kaupa, Karin Steiner (Eds.) Leicht, René, Silvia Luber (2002): Berufliche Selbständigkeit im internationalen Vergleich. Die Bedeutung moderner Dienstleistungen in der neuen Arbeitswelt. 61-93. Wien, Falter. More
  • Bögenhold, Dieter, Dorothea Schmidt (Eds.) Luber, Silvia (1999): Die Entwicklung selbständiger Erwerbsarbeit in Westeuropa und den USA. 43-69. Berlin, Fakultas. More

Journal Articles

  • Luber, Silvia, René Leicht (2000): Growing self-employment in Western Europe: an effect of modernization?. International Review of Sociology - Revue Internationale de Sociologie, 10, 1, 101-123. More
  • Luber, Silvia, Henning Lohmann, Walter Müller, Paolo Barbieri (2000): Male Self-employment in Four European Countries. The Relevance of Education and Experience Across Industries. International Journal of Sociology, 30, 3, 5-44. More
  • Luber, Silvia, Markus Gangl, René Leicht (1997): Fehlende Kultur der Selbständigkeit? Selbständige Erwerbsarbeit in Deutschland im Vergleich mit anderen Industrieländern: Hintergründe des Süd-Nord-Gefälles. ifm-Strukturbericht Kurzinfo, 4, 1-4. More

Presentations

  • Müller, Walter (2008): The Reemergence of Self-Employment. [Seminar of the Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, University of Trento, 15/04/2008 - 15/04/2008]. More

MZES Working Papers

  • Lohmann, Henning (2001): Self-employed or employee, full-time or part-time? Gender differences in the determinants and conditions for self-employment in Europe and the US. 38, Mannheim, MZES. More
  • Lohmann, Henning, Silvia Luber, Walter Müller (1999): Who is Self-Employed in France, the United Kingdom and West Germany? Patterns of Non-Agricultural Self-Employment. 11, Mannheim, MZES. More
  • Luber, Silvia, Markus Gangl (1997): Die Entwicklung selbständiger Erwerbstätigkeit in Westeuropa und den USA 1960-1995. 16, Mannheim, MZES. More