Occupational sorting and the transmission of self-employment between generations

Existing research has focused on factors explaining self-employment decisions, and the intergenerational transmission of self-employment has been posited as one explanatory factor. However, findings differ across countries, and the channels for such transmission remain unclear. Using data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions, we analyse whether working in the same occupation as parents, conditional on parents' self-employment, is related to being self-employed. Results show that working in the same occupation as parents is statistically and significantly related to being self-employed, which may indicate the existence of intergenerational transmission of self-employment. Furthermore, this relationship is especially significant between fathers and sons.