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@article{ Lakemann2023, title = {How Vulnerable are the Self-Employed? Evidence from Ugandan Small-Scale Entrepreneurs}, author = {Lakemann, Tabea}, journal = {Journal of Development Studies}, number = {9}, pages = {1391-1408}, volume = {59}, year = {2023}, issn = {1743-9140}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2023.2217996}, urn = {https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-93775-7}, abstract = {Due to small firm sizes and inter-linkages between household and business finances, small-scale entrepreneurs in developing countries are inherently vulnerable to temporary and permanent income shortfalls, and hence household poverty. While the International Labour Organisation (ILO) generally defines self-employment without employees as vulnerable employment, little empirical research has been done on the extent to which the self-employed are indeed vulnerable. This paper makes two main contributions: first, it operationalises the concept of vulnerability in the context of self-employment in developing countries by defining vulnerability as the risk of having business income below a living wage threshold. Secondly, it investigates the extent and correlates of vulnerability. Using a six-year balanced entrepreneur panel dataset from Kampala, Uganda, it is shown that the self-employed are heterogeneous with respect to vulnerability and observed earnings: 58-74% of the samples are classified as vulnerable in a given year and mostly earn incomes below the living wage threshold. Vulnerable entrepreneurs are shown to be significantly different from non-vulnerable entrepreneurs in several dimensions, including those that do not directly predict income.}, keywords = {Afrika; Africa; Afrika südlich der Sahara; Africa South of the Sahara; Asien; Asia; Lateinamerika; Latin America; Entwicklungsland; developing country; Nordafrika; North Africa; Nahost; Middle East; wirtschaftliche Lage; economic situation; Wirtschaftsentwicklung; economic development (on national level); Wirtschaftspolitik; economic policy; arabische Länder; Arab countries; Kleinbetrieb; small business; Selbständigkeit; autonomy; Unternehmertum; entrepreneurship; Vulnerabilität; vulnerability; Uganda; Uganda; Armut; poverty}}