The diversity of labor market institutions and entrepreneurship

Substantial literature demonstrates that flexible labor market institutions promote entrepreneurial activity. We re-evaluate this finding by considering the complementarity between institutions as advocated by the varieties of capitalism literature. We study the relevance of labor market regulations, wage-setting institutions and social security, and their complementarity for different types of entrepreneurial activity in 19 European countries and the USA. Two findings stand out. First, the four distinct bundles of labor market institutions characterizing Europe support different forms of entrepreneurial activity, and that innovative entrepreneurial activity also exists in less-flexible and -regulated labor market arrangements. Second, the relationships between single labor market institutions and entrepreneurial activity vary across the four institutional constellations. Therefore, to promote entrepreneurship in Europe, there is a need for tailored reform strategies that consider the diversity of the institutional constellations

Varieties of entrepreneurship: exploring the institutional foundations of different entrepreneurship types through ‘Varieties-of-Capitalism’ arguments

While entrepreneurship researchers agree that institutions ‘matter’ for entrepreneurship, they also have a rather encompassing understanding of institutions as almost any external factor that influences entrepreneurship. Ultimately, this literature thus comes up with a long list of institutional factors that may explain entrepreneurial differences between countries. But which institutions are most influential? How do these institutions relate to different types of entrepreneurship? And to what extent are institutions complementary to each other in the way they sustain different entrepreneurship types? The literature on ‘Varieties-of-Capitalism’ (VoC) offers a parsimonious theoretical framework to address these questions. Based on the VoC literature, we theoretically derive a consistent set of institutional indicators that can explain differences in entrepreneurship types between countries. Based on principal component and cluster analyses, we illustrate how 21 Western developed economies cluster around four distinct institutional settings. Furthermore, we use simple OLS regressions to show how these institutional constellations are related to different types of entrepreneurship. We conclude that four different ‘Varieties of Entrepreneurship’ can be identified across the Western world. The main implication of our findings is that a ‘perfect’ institutional constellation, equally facilitating different types of entrepreneurship, does not exist. Policy-makers seeking to stimulate entrepreneurship are thus faced with the trade-off of targeting policy reforms to that entrepreneurship type they intend to promote—at the expense of other types of entrepreneurship and the broader societal consequences such reforms will have

Gender Equality since 1900

This chapter provides an overview of global trends in gender equality in health, socio-economic resources and politics over the entire 20th century. It does so by extending the historical gender equality index (HGEI) introduced in the previous How Was Life? report back to 1900 and forward to 2010, and by including additional indicators. While progress since 1900 towards gender equality is visible especially in the dimensions of health and socio-economic resources, cluster analysis reveals that the groupings of countries by level of gender equality remains similar through time. The main exceptions are Southern Europe and the Nordic countries, which witness substantial improvements in the post-1950 period. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/how-was-life-volume-ii_d005dfaf-e

Gender Inequality since 1820

Historically, gender inequalities in health status, socio-economic standing and political rights have been large. This chapter documents gender differences in life expectancy and birth rates (to cover health status); in average years of schooling, labour force participation, inheritance rights and marriage age (to cover socioeconomic status); and in parliamentary seats and suffrage (to cover political rights). A composite indicator shows strong progress in reducing gender inequality in the past 60 years in most regions. Only in East Asia and in Eastern Europe this decline stalled in the 1980s. Differences in levels of gender inequality between regions remained large, however: Europe (including Eastern Europe) and the Western Offshoots performed best, although no country reached full gender equality. The Middle East and North Africa (mainly due to weak political rights) and South and Southeast Asia (due to skewed sex ratios at birth) performed worst

Gender Inequality since 1820

Historically, gender inequalities in health status, socio-economic standing and political rights have been large. This chapter documents gender differences in life expectancy and birth rates (to cover health status); in average years of schooling, labour force participation, inheritance rights and marriage age (to cover socioeconomic status); and in parliamentary seats and suffrage (to cover political rights). A composite indicator shows strong progress in reducing gender inequality in the past 60 years in most regions. Only in East Asia and in Eastern Europe this decline stalled in the 1980s. Differences in levels of gender inequality between regions remained large, however: Europe (including Eastern Europe) and the Western Offshoots performed best, although no country reached full gender equality. The Middle East and North Africa (mainly due to weak political rights) and South and Southeast Asia (due to skewed sex ratios at birth) performed worst

Gender Equality since 1900

This chapter provides an overview of global trends in gender equality in health, socio-economic resources and politics over the entire 20th century. It does so by extending the historical gender equality index (HGEI) introduced in the previous How Was Life? report back to 1900 and forward to 2010, and by including additional indicators. While progress since 1900 towards gender equality is visible especially in the dimensions of health and socio-economic resources, cluster analysis reveals that the groupings of countries by level of gender equality remains similar through time. The main exceptions are Southern Europe and the Nordic countries, which witness substantial improvements in the post-1950 period. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/how-was-life-volume-ii_d005dfaf-e

Gender Equality since 1900

This chapter provides an overview of global trends in gender equality in health, socio-economic resources and politics over the entire 20th century. It does so by extending the historical gender equality index (HGEI) introduced in the previous How Was Life? report back to 1900 and forward to 2010, and by including additional indicators. While progress since 1900 towards gender equality is visible especially in the dimensions of health and socio-economic resources, cluster analysis reveals that the groupings of countries by level of gender equality remains similar through time. The main exceptions are Southern Europe and the Nordic countries, which witness substantial improvements in the post-1950 period. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/how-was-life-volume-ii_d005dfaf-e