ECONOMIC DETERMINANT OF SELF EMPLOYMENT IN A DEVELOPING NATION: THE NIGERIA EXPERIENCE

Abstract

This studyinvestigated the economic determinant of that affect the number of selfemployed in a developing country, a case study of Nigeria. The findings provideanswers to various research questions like, What are the economic factors thataffect self-owned business (private business) in Nigeria?, What are the effectsof these economic variables on self-owned business (private business) inNigeria?, How can these variables be controlled to improve self-owned businessperformance in Nigeria?. To investigate through this survey, data werecollected from secondary source, world bank statistics on indicators such asunemployment, credit availability, inflation rate, interest rate and exchangerate. These were considered has the variables with the most effect, which waslater proved in the study. Ordinary Least  Square (OLS) formed thebasis for the  estimation.  The study  found that exchange  rate and interest  rate have  negative relationship withNumber of self owned enterprises. While inflation rate, credit availability andunemployment has a positive effects on number of self owned enterprises. Theeffects of these indicators are propulsive, if they are well monitored andstabilized in the right way with good economy policies.