This article analyzes the nature of micro-entrepreneurship in Argentina and relates it to the empirical evidence available for other Latin American countries. It focuses on whether the sector resembles the neoclassical view, characterized by the risk-taking nature of the entrepreneurial activity, or if it is a precarious form of employment of last resort. The evidence confronts the neoclassical view of the micro-entrepreneur sector. It is argued that self-employment should be interpreted as functional to the capital accumulation process and not as a residual activity.
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