随着低收入国家的工业化进程，工人们在非正式的自营职业和低技能制造业之间做出选择。工人们在权衡什么，这种职业选择的长期影响是什么?自主创业被认为是不稳定和有风险的，但它提供了自主权和灵活性。工业企业因工资和工作条件差而受到批评，但它们可以提供稳定的工作时间和其他优势。我们与五家埃塞俄比亚工业公司合作，将入门级申请人随机分配到三个治疗部门之一:一份工业工作;对照组;或者一个300美元的“创业”项目，外加商业培训。我们追踪了这个样本一年多。工业工作比对照组的非正式工作提供更多的工作时间，但由于工资较低，对收入影响不大。大多数求职者很快就离开了这个行业，因为他们发现工业工作既不愉快又有风险。 Indeed, serious health problems rose one percentage point for every month of industrial work. Applicants seem to understand the risks, but took the industrial work temporarily while searching for better work. Meanwhile, the entrepreneurship program stimulated self-employment, raised earnings by 33%, provided steady work hours, and halved the likelihood of taking an industrial job in future. Overall, when the barriers to self-employment were relieved, applicants appear to have preferred entrepreneurial to industrial labor.