While much of the literature on new firm formation in the 1980s was motivated by high levels of unemployment, much of the focus on new firm start-ups today is motivated by high technology. Using a new database we examine the role of human capital, training and education, and entrepreneurial environment on new firm formation. We find significant differences in new firm formation rates from industrial regions to technologically progressive regions. Variations in firm birth rates are explained by industrial density, population and income growth. These results are consistent with thick labour markets and localized knowledge spillovers. Alors que le chomage constituait le principal moteur de la documentation sur la creation d'entreprise dans les annees 80, de nos jours c'est plutot la nouvelle technologie qui en est le moteur. A partir d'une nouvelle base de donnees, cet article cherche a examiner le role du capital humain, de la formation et de l'education, et du milieu propice a la creation d'entreprise. Il s'avere d'importants ecarts dans les taux de creation d'entreprise entre les regions industrielles et les regions plus a la pointe de la technologie. La variation du taux de creation d'entreprise s'explique par la densite industrielle, la demographie et la croissance du revenu. Ces resultats-la correspondent aux notions de marches du travail forts et de retombees des connaissances localisees. Wahrend in den achtziger Jahren ein Grossteil der Literatur uber die Grundung neuer Firmen durch den hohen Grad der Erwerbslosigkeit veranlasst worden war, verdankt sie heute das Interesse an Firmengrundungen hauptsachlich der Hochtechnologie. Mit Hilfe einer neuen Datenbank werden die Einflusse von Menschenkapital, Ausbildung und Erziehung und einer unternehmerfreundlichen Umwelt auf Firmengrundungen untersucht. Es werden signifikante Unterschiede in den Raten neuer Firmengrundungen in Industriegebieten und technologisch fortschrittlichen Gebieten festgestellt. Schwankungen in Firmengrundungsraten finden ihre Erklarung in Industriedichte, Bevolkerung und Einkommensanstieg. Diese Ergebnisse stimmen mit starken Arbeitsmarkten und ortlich beschrankter Verbreitung von Kenntnisen uberein.New Firm Formation, Spillovers, Unemployment, Spatial Variation,

Recent theories of economic growth have stressed the role of externalities in generating growth. Using data from the Census Bureau that tracks all employers in the whole U.S. private sector economy, we examine the impact of these externalities, as measured by entrepreneurial activity, on employment growth in Local Market Areas. We find that differences in levels of entrepreneurial activity, diversity among geographically proximate industries, and the extent of human capital are positively associated with variation in growth rates, but the manufacturing sector appears to be an exception.JEL Classification: O40, R11, M13, C8

This stimulating book analyses the interplay between entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth in the United States of America. The starting premise is that innovation is the driving force of growth in the "knowledge economy." The book draws on insights from theories of endogenous growth and economic geography to propose a unified conceptual framework that places entrepreneurship centre-stage in the process of innovation and growth. Empirical evidence on entrepreneurship and employment growth is presented using an impressive dataset on more than 14 million establishments that existed at some time between 1989 through 2001 across 394 Labor Market Areas (LMAs) of the United States.

Although human capital externalities are a key variable in theories of economic growth, there has been little investigation of the mechanism by which these externalities are realized. We examine the relationship between the local levels of human capital and firm formation rates and find that formation rates differ with the share of adults with college degrees, especially for industries that normally require college-educated founders. They also differ strongly with the local concentration of existing establishments in the same sector, especially for industries serving non-local markets, suggesting that an important mechanism is the spillover of relevant knowledge.JEL Classification: R1, L80, J24, M13, O3

Motivated by differences in new-firm survival across regions, this paper explores the impact of regional human capital on new-firm survival rates. New-firm survival is interpreted through formation rates of surviving versus closed firms in the service sector. By incorporating knowledge spillovers through a geographical variation model for Labour Market Areas, we empirically test the relationship between regional human capital stocks and new-firm survival. The expected positive relationship between regional human capital and new-firm survival is supported for the period 1993-1995, but is not as strong for the recession period 1990-1992. Controlling for human capital, the new-firm survival rate is negatively related to service sector specialisation and positively related to all-industry intensity, suggesting that city size and diversity may be an important determinant of new-firm survival in both periods. Copyright (c) 2007 the author(s). Journal compilation (c) 2007 RSAI.