Become Independent! The Paradoxical Constraints of France’s Auto-Entrepreneur Regime

28 Pages Posted: 7 Mar 2011

See all articles by Nadine Levratto

Nadine Levratto

EconomiX-CNRS-University Paris Nanterre

Evelyne Serverin

IRERP

Date Written: January 7, 2011

Abstract

The Law on Economic Modernization of 4 August 2008 introduced a new form of individual entrepreneur, the auto-entrepreneur, the goal being to enhance the competitiveness of the French economy by promoting the entrepreneurial spirit. This paper proposes to discuss the auto-entrepreneur model with reference to the fundamentals of the theory of the firm and the legal variants of the auto-entrepreneur. The argument will be structured around the criterion of independence, and its various interpretations, which will be used to put the auto-entrepreneur model to the test. Three forms of autonomy are given precedence: productive (Section 1), concerning the availability of sufficient financing and material to provide professional services; managerial (Section 2), which measures the ability to assume the risks inherent to business, regarding both interested and third parties; and financial (Section 3), or the chances of earning enough money to subsist upon. The result, underscored in the conclusion to this article, is that the auto-entrepreneur regime appears best adapted as a means of supplementing income from another, unrelated activity or in retirement, which is contrary to every approach to business and enterprise.

Keywords: auto-entrepreneur, theory of the firm, combining activities, employment contract, entrepreneurship

JEL Classification: L26, L21, K22

Suggested Citation

Levratto, Nadine and Serverin, Evelyne, Become Independent! The Paradoxical Constraints of France’s Auto-Entrepreneur Regime (January 7, 2011). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1780485 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1780485

Nadine Levratto (Contact Author)

EconomiX-CNRS-University Paris Nanterre ( email )

200, avenue de la République
Batiment Allais
Nanterre, 92001
France

Evelyne Serverin

IRERP ( email )

200 Avenue de la République
Nanterre, Hauts de Seine 92000
France

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