TY  - JOUR
AU  - Holtz-Eakin,Douglas
AU  - Penrod,John R.
AU  - Rosen,Harvey S.
TI  - Health Insurance and the Supply of Entrepreneurs
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 4880
PY  - 1994
Y2  - October 1994
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4880
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4880.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Douglas Holtz-Eakin
American Action Forum
1401 New York Ave, NW
Suite 1200
Washington, DC 20005
E-Mail: dholtzeakin@americanactionforum.org

Harvey S. Rosen
Department of Economics
Fisher Hall
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544-1021
Tel: 609/258-4022
Fax: 609/258-6419
E-Mail: HSR@princeton.edu
AB  - Some commentators have suggested that the absence of portable health insurance impedes people from leaving their jobs to start new firms.  We investigate this belief by comparing wage-earners who become self-employed during a given period of time with their counterparts who do not.  By examining the impact of variables relating to the health insurance and health status of these workers and their families, we can infer whether the lack of health insurance portability affects the probability that they become self-employed. The evidence does not support the conjecture that the current health insurance system affects the propensity to become self-employed. Hence, whatever its other merits, there is no reason to believe that the introduction of universal health insurance would significantly enhance entrepreneurial activity.
ER  -