"The growing share of self-employment among the workforce is one of the most striking phenomenon that has taken place on the Swiss labour market in the past 20 years. Although many factors can be put forward to explain this trend, no study in Switzerland has focused on the role of intergenerational links. This topic is quite important as one has to assess whether the surge in entrepreneurship has made this type of work accessible to anyone, or whether some constraints such as intergenerational links limit the supply of entrepreneurs. Based on data from the Swiss Household Panel, we find that a father self-employed is the most important factor shaping the supply of self-employed in Switzerland. Our results also suggest that self-employment is not correlated to pecuniary factors."

Support: Digital