The effects of exposure to hyperinflation on occupational choice

•We study the effects of exposure to hyperinflation on self-employment decisions among immigrants in the US.•We devise an empirical strategy based on the “epidemiological approach” to estimate this effect.•The marginal effect of years lived under hyperinflation on the probability of being self-employed is 0.87 percentage point.•Given that self-employed individuals correspond to 8.9 percent of the sample used, this result is not negligible.•This effect depends on the age the individual had when exposed to hyperinflation. It vanishes for those over the age of 40. We use data on immigrants who live in the United States to study the effects of exposure to hyperinflation on occupational choice. To do so, we calculate the number of years an individual had lived under hyperinflation before arriving to the US. We find that its marginal effect on the probability of being self-employed instead of wage-earner is 0.87 percentage point. This finding suggests that the macroeconomic environment one lives in permanently affects his economic behavior. The estimated effect depends on the age individuals had when exposed to hyperinflation. In particular, it vanishes for those over the age of 40.