Planning horizon in labour supply of Belarusian small entrepreneurs

Our article focuses on testing the intertemporal substitution hypothesis (ISH) that predicts a positive relationship between hours worked and transitory changes in wages for the owners of Belarusian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Our results demonstrate that Belarusian entrepreneurs are willing to work a fixed number of hours regardless of their businesses’ performance. Additionally, it appears that females have larger labour supply elasticity than males (it should be noted that male labour supply elasticity becomes even more insignificant when we use robust standard errors). Our results are consistent with the similar findings in USA, Africa, UK and Poland, however, they cannot be generalised for larger companies, since the nature of ISH testing largely depends on the size of the company and its decision-making processes. Our findings suggest that the complicated business environment in Belarus (e.g. difficulties in establishing and running an enterprise, tight bureaucratic control and slow business dynamics) and worsening conditions of the Belarusian economy make small Belarusian entrepreneurs plan their time horizons in a uniquely short-sighted way.