Examines the causes and consequences of changes in the incidence of entrepreneurship in the UK by focusing on the characteristics of the self-employed and how self-employment has changed over time. Entrepreneurship in the UK is comprehensive and complete in its review of: time series trends in self-employment in the UK and elsewhere; the earnings of the self-employed with those of wage and salary workers; the characteristics of the self-employed; econometric analyses of the determinants of self-employment and comparisons with US + EU; the importance of liquidity constraints and the role of inheritances and gifts and rising house prices in overcoming credit constraints; macro-economic consequences and correlates of self-employment.

The book identifies the characteristics of the self-employed and explains how and why their numbers have changed over time.