The impact of geographic differences in human capital on service firm formation rates

Abstract

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

Measuring Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

“…But perhaps the most important element of an effective entrepreneurial ecosystem is the presence of a diverse and skilled group of workers ('talent': see e.g. Acs and Armington 2004;Lee et al 2004;Qian et al 2013). An important source of opportunities for entrepreneurship can be found in knowledge, from both public and private organizations (see e.g.…”

The entrepreneurial ladder, gender, and regional development

“…In addition, positive effects of knowledge spillovers on firm birth, growth, and survival in urban areas have been established (Acs and Armington 2004;Audretsch and Dohse 2007;Raspe and Van Oort 2008). However, more intense competition in these areas may also lead to higher probabilities of exit.…”

Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

“…But perhaps the most important element of an effective entrepreneurial ecosystem is the presence of a diverse and skilled group of workers ('talent': see e.g. Acs & Armington, 2004;Lee et al, 2004;Qian et al, 2013). An important source of opportunities for entrepreneurship can be found in knowledge, from both public and private organizations (see e.g.…”

“…In recent years the fields of entrepreneurship studies, economic geography, urban economics, and the economics of entrepreneurship have moved closer to each other through research on the context of entrepreneurship (Ucbasaran et al, 2001;Welter, 2011;Zahra et al, 2014;Autio et al, 2014), the growing recognition that not all types of entrepreneurship are equally important for economic growth (Henrekson & Sanandaji ,2014;Stam et al, 2009;Wong et al, 2005), and the increasing interest in the entrepreneurial actor within urban and regional economics (Acs & Armington, 2004;Feldman, 2001;Glaeser et al, 2010). These developments have culminated in an emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem approach that explicitly focuses on how urban and regional contexts affect ambitious entrepreneurship.…”