Analysis of the Tendency Towards Entrepreneurship in Spain: A Perspective Based on the Economic and Institutional Environment

Abstract

The decision between whether to become self-employed or to work as an employee is a dilemma faced by an increasing number of Spanish professionals. This research investigates the sociodemographic profile of Spanish self-employed workers, and examines the factors in the economic and institutional environment that influence their decision to become self-employed. The sociodemographic characteristics that make up the profile of entrepreneurs who decide to become self-employed are presented using microdata the Spanish Labor Force Survey, and based on a logistic regression model. The influence of the economic and institutional environment on this tendency towards entrepreneurship is also studied. The results enable us to conclude that favorable factors for entrepreneurship are previous experience as an entrepreneur, the sector in which the individual wishes to be an entrepreneur, the professional’s age and sex, their marital status, and the maximum age at they completed their education. As for the environmental perspective, the relative size of the economy and the level of bank credit in the autonomous community of Spain the entrepreneur wishes to do business has a positive influence on the tendency towards entrepreneurship.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, self-employed workers, economic environment, institutions

JEL Classification: D02, L26, M13