abstract: 'Turning unemployment into self-employment has become an increasingly

  important part of active labor market policies (ALMP) in many OECD

  countries. Germany is a good example where the spending on start-up

  subsidies for the unemployed accounted for nearly 17\% of the total

  spending on ALMP in 2004. In contrast to other programs like vocational

  training, job creation schemes, or wage subsidies the empirical evidence

  on the effectiveness of such schemes is still scarce: especially

  regarding long-term effects and effect heterogeneity. This paper aims to

  close this gap. We use administrative and survey data from a large

  sample of participants in two distinct start-up programs and a control

  group of unemployed individuals. We find that over 80\% of participants

  are integrated in the labor market and have relatively high labor income

  five years after start-up. Additionally, participants are much more

  satisfied with their current occupational situation compared to previous

  jobs. Based on propensity score matching methods we estimate the

  long-term effects of the programs against non-participation and take

  great care in assessing the sensitivity of our results with respect to

  deviations from the identifying assumption. Our results turn out to be

  robust and show that both programs are effective with respect to income

  and employment outcomes in the long-run, i.e., five years after

  start-up. Moreover, we consider effect heterogeneity with respect to

  several dimensions and show that startup subsidies for the unemployed

  tend to be most effective for disadvantaged groups in the labor market.

  (C) 2010 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.'
affiliation: 'Caliendo, M (Corresponding Author), IZA, Inst Study Lab, POB 7240, D-53072
  Bonn, Germany.

  Caliendo, Marco, IZA, Inst Study Lab, D-53072 Bonn, Germany.

  Kuenn, Steffen, FU Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

  Caliendo, Marco, DIW Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

  Caliendo, Marco, IAB, Berlin, Germany.'
author: Caliendo, Marco and Kuenn, Steffen
author-email: 'caliendo@iza.org

  kuenn@iza.org'
author_list:
- family: Caliendo
  given: Marco
- family: Kuenn
  given: Steffen
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2010.11.003
files: []
issn: 0047-2727
journal: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
keywords: 'Start-up subsidies; Self-employment; Evaluation; Long-term effects;

  Effect heterogeneity'
keywords-plus: LABOR-MARKET PROGRAMS; SELF-EMPLOYMENT; PROPENSITY SCORE; GERMANY
language: English
month: APR
number: 3-4, SI
number-of-cited-references: '58'
pages: 311-331
papis_id: 33eae18853681a20e5164f6a7310ffb0
ref: Caliendo2011startupsubsidies
times-cited: '76'
title: 'Start-up subsidies for the unemployed: Long-term evidence and effect heterogeneity'
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000288921600013
usage-count-last-180-days: '1'
usage-count-since-2013: '29'
volume: '95'
web-of-science-categories: Economics
year: '2011'