Edinburgh Napier University

  Part of this research project (Task 1) provided an overview of the policy literature on selfemployment and entrepreneurship in Europe where emphasis was placed on differentiating between self-employment and entrepreneurship, the key policies at EU and national leveland the quality and sustainability of self-employment. Following on from this, emphasis isplaced on the characteristics of the self-employed and entrepreneurs. This report mapspatterns of self-employment in Europe, identifying critical factors that contribute to long termsurvival, innovation and growth (http://www.style-research.eu/project/work-packages/wp7-self-employment/). It provides an analysis of self-employment pre and post the recent financial and economic crisis and identifies patterns in self-employment and potential changes to these patterns over time. It also identifies long term structural trends. In addition, these macro-level relationships are examined at a national level with a particular focus on six European Union (EU, hereafter) Member States: Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.