%0 Report %T Stars and Misfits: A Theory of Occupational Choice %+ Joseph L. Rotman School of Management %+ Department of Economics %A Astebro, Thomas B. %A Chen, Jing %A Thompson, Peter %Z Mimeo, 2010 %8 2010 %D 2010 %K Entrepreneurship %K self-employment %K jack-of-all-trades %K skill complementarity %Z Humanities and Social Sciences/Business administration/domain_shs.gestion.stratReports %X In some datasets, the self-employed earn markedly less than wage earners, even though those at the top end of the distribution earn more than their wage-earning peers. This observation is explained by a model of entrepreneurial choice that blends Lazear's [Journal of Labor Economics, vol. 23, pp. 649-680 (2005)] notion that entrepreneurs must be skilled in a variety of activities with the strong complementarity between skills central to Kremer's [Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 108, pp. 551-575 (1993)] O-ring theory of production. We test some predictions of the model using two datasets, with mixed results. %G English %L hal-00655035 %U https://hec.hal.science/hal-00655035 %~ SHS %~ HEC %~ LARA