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Title: Oil & Gas Induced Economic Fluctuations and Self-Employment Oil & Gas Induced Economic Fluctuations and Self-Employment
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2021
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Abstract: We investigate effects of plausibly exogenous variation in the value of oil and natural gas production in local economies on self-employment in the United States. We find that self-employment is procyclical, i.e. self-employment increases during a business cycle expansion and is reduced during a contraction. This effect comes entirely from unincorporated self-employed workers (in lieu of incorporated self-employment). We also find that self-employment explains an economically meaningful share of the employment adjustment; point estimates suggest that approximately 8 to 9 percent of the employment adjustment comes from unincorporated self-employed individuals-a group that makes up about 6 percent of total employment. JEL Classification: J24, L26, M13, Q33, Q35 for their helpful comments and suggestions and Mark Agerton for sharing computer code to compile oil & gas data with the research community. We also thank participants of the 5th Annual CEBRA Workshop for Commodities and Macroeconomics hosted by the Federal Reserve Board, especially Tony Cookson for his constructive comments and suggestions.
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Authors: Unel, Bulent; B. Upton Jr., Gregory
Series Title: USAEE Working Paper Series
Publication Number: 20-461
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Pages: 1-37
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Data Collections: IPUMS CPS
Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Natural Resource Management
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