Peter van der Zwan () (Erasmus University Rotterdam) Ingrid Verheul () (Erasmus University Rotterdam and EIM, Zoetermeer) Roy Thurik () (Erasmus University Rotterdam, EIM, Zoetermeer, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena, and VU University Amsterdam) Isabel Grilo () (DG Enterprise, European Commission, Brussels, GREMARS, Université de Lille 3, CORE, Université de Louvain, Belgium)
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We investigate which countries have the highest potential to achieve entrepreneurial progress. This progress is defined using an entrepreneurial ladder with five successive steps: “never thought about starting a business”, “thinking about starting a business”, “taking steps to start a business”, “running a business for less than three years”, and “running a business for more than three years”. We assess the influence of individual-level and country-level variables on progression through these stages. Data are used from the 2007 “Flash Eurobarometer Survey on Entrepreneurship”, covering 27 European countries and the United States. We find that countries display large variation in the ease with which businesses come into existence and survive. In the US many people think about setting up a business whereas Europeans are better at achieving higher levels of engagement. Particularly in Austria, France and Lithuania there appear to be low probabilities to advance in the process. Our analysis suggests that country differences can be explained by the level of economic development and risk tolerance while the administrative and financial climate play a role for some steps. The paper also provides results on the influence of individual-level demographic and obstacle perception variables.
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Find related papers by JEL classification: H10 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - General J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups R12 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
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