Health insurance coverage and entrepreneurship

This article estimates the importance of health insurance coverage on tile probability of self-employment. Using data from the 1993 Current Population Survey (CPS), the author focuses on the impact of having health insurance through one's spouse on the likelihood of self-employment. The best estimat es suggest that a guaranteed alternative source of health insurance would i ncrease the probability of self-employment between 2.3 and 4.4 percentage p oints for husbands and 1.2 and 4.6 percentage points for wives. The author' s more conservative estimates suggest that universal coverage could increas e the percentage of self-employed in the workforce by 2 to 3.5 percentage p oints.