The Effects of the National System of Social Security Over Senior Entrepreneurs: A Comparative Analysis of Age Cohorts

The aim of this chapter is to analyze the relationship between the national systems of social security and senior entrepreneurial activity. To understand the growing phenomenon of senior entrepreneurship, the authors developed a multilevel model using a dataset from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor that allows them to relate country-level variables, such as social security contributions, level of economic development, government support and policies, and burden taxes and bureaucracy, with individual-level variables, such as the household income, experience fear of failure and type of business. This chapter contributes to the literature of the contextual determinants of entrepreneurship by examining multilevel data on 42,100 individuals from 31 countries members of the OECD for the period of 2010–2016. The findings indicate that the country-level predictor of social security contributions has a negative effect but statistically non-significant relationship with the decision to engage in senior entrepreneurial activity.