IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/sbusec/v61y2023i3d10.1007_s11187-023-00734-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Overeducation, natural amenities, and entrepreneurship

Author

Listed:
  • Tessa Conroy

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

  • Philip Watson

    (University of Idaho)

Abstract

This analysis examines how a local skills gap is related to entrepreneurial outcomes at the regional level in the USA. We develop a novel measure of a regional skills gap using education, comparing the educational attainment of the population with the education requirements of jobs in the region. We hypothesize that an educational mismatch, specifically overeducation, drives new establishment births. This positive effect of overeducation is even higher in high-amenity, non-metro counties, mainly in the Mountain West. To the extent that entrepreneurship generates broader economic growth, this suggests an especially promising strategy for development in some rural regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Tessa Conroy & Philip Watson, 2023. "Overeducation, natural amenities, and entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 1111-1131, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:61:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11187-023-00734-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-023-00734-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11187-023-00734-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11187-023-00734-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hartog, Joop, 2000. "Over-education and earnings: where are we, where should we go?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 131-147, April.
    2. Mark D. Partridge & Dan S. Rickman & M. Rose Olfert & Ying Tan, 2015. "When Spatial Equilibrium Fails: Is Place-Based Policy Second Best?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(8), pages 1303-1325, August.
    3. Fatih Guvenen & Burhan Kuruscu & Satoshi Tanaka & David Wiczer, 2020. "Multidimensional Skill Mismatch," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 210-244, January.
    4. Peter Fredriksson & Lena Hensvik & Oskar Nordström Skans, 2018. "Mismatch of Talent: Evidence on Match Quality, Entry Wages, and Job Mobility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(11), pages 3303-3338, November.
    5. Nadia Simoes & Nuno Crespo & Sandrina B. Moreira, 2016. "Individual Determinants Of Self-Employment Entry: What Do We Really Know?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 783-806, September.
    6. Alexandra Tsvetkova & Mark Partridge, 2021. "Knowledge-based service economy and firm entry: an alternative to the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 637-657, February.
    7. Pierre Azoulay & Benjamin F. Jones & J. Daniel Kim & Javier Miranda, 2020. "Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 65-82, March.
    8. Raul Ramos & Jordi Surinach & Manuel Art�s, 2012. "Regional Economic Growth and Human Capital: The Role of Over-education," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(10), pages 1389-1400, November.
    9. Qin Fan & H. Allen Klaiber & Karen Fisher-Vanden, 2016. "Does Extreme Weather Drive Interregional Brain Drain in the U.S.? Evidence from a Sorting Model," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 92(2), pages 363-388.
    10. Stephan J. Goetz & David Freshwater, 2001. "State-Level Determinants of Entrepreneurship and a Preliminary Measure of Entrepreneurial Climate," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 15(1), pages 58-70, February.
    11. Anil Rupasingha & Yongzheng Liu & Mark Partridge, 2015. "Rural Bound: Determinants of Metro to Non-Metro Migration in the United States," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 97(3), pages 680-700.
    12. Rappaport, Jordan, 2007. "Moving to nice weather," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 375-398, May.
    13. Robert E. Lucas Jr., 1978. "On the Size Distribution of Business Firms," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 9(2), pages 508-523, Autumn.
    14. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-442, June.
    15. Hersch, Joni, 1991. "Education Match and Job Match," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(1), pages 140-144, February.
    16. Roback, Jennifer, 1982. "Wages, Rents, and the Quality of Life," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(6), pages 1257-1278, December.
    17. Acs,Zoltan J. & Armington,Catherine, 2011. "Entrepreneurship, Geography, and American Economic Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107402539, January.
    18. Rupasingha, Anil & Goetz, Stephan J. & Freshwater, David, 2006. "The production of social capital in US counties," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 83-101, February.
    19. Reynolds, Paul D., 2007. "New Firm Creation in the United States A PSED I Overview," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 3(1), pages 1-150, February.
    20. Steven C. Deller & Tsung-Hsiu (Sue) Tsai & David W. Marcouiller & Donald B.K. English, 2001. "The Role of Amenities and Quality of Life In Rural Economic Growth," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(2), pages 352-365.
    21. Justin Van Der Sluis & Mirjam Van Praag & Wim Vijverberg, 2008. "Education And Entrepreneurship Selection And Performance: A Review Of The Empirical Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 795-841, December.
    22. Justin van der Sluis & Mirjam van Praag & Wim Vijverberg, 2005. "Entrepreneurship Selection and Performance: A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Education in Developing Economies," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 19(2), pages 225-261.
    23. Tessa Conroy & Sarah A. Low & Stephan Weiler, 2017. "Fueling Job Engines: Impacts Of Small Business Loans On Establishment Births In Metropolitan And Nonmetro Counties," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 578-595, July.
    24. Catherine Armington & Zoltan Acs, 2002. "The Determinants of Regional Variation in New Firm Formation," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1), pages 33-45.
    25. devin michelle bunten & Stephan Weiler & Eric Thompson & Sammy Zahran, 2015. "Entrepreneurship, Information, And Growth," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 560-584, September.
    26. David A. McGranahan & Timothy R. Wojan & Dayton M. Lambert, 2011. "The rural growth trifecta: outdoor amenities, creative class and entrepreneurial context -super-§," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 529-557, May.
    27. Heather M. Stephens & Mark D. Partridge & Alessandra Faggian, 2013. "Innovation, Entrepreneurship And Economic Growth In Lagging Regions," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 778-812, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tessa Conroy & Stephan Weiler, 2016. "Does gender matter for job creation? Business ownership and employment growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 397-419, August.
    2. Tessa Conroy & Stephan Weiler, 2019. "Local and social: entrepreneurs, information network effects, and economic growth," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 62(3), pages 681-713, June.
    3. Samuel Taylor & Heather M. Stephens & Daniel Grossman, 2022. "The opioid crisis and economic distress: Consequences for population change," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 541-577, March.
    4. Tessa Conroy & Sarah A. Low & Stephan Weiler, 2017. "Fueling Job Engines: Impacts Of Small Business Loans On Establishment Births In Metropolitan And Nonmetro Counties," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 578-595, July.
    5. Dan S. Rickman & Shane D. Rickman, 2011. "Population Growth In High‐Amenity Nonmetropolitan Areas: What'S The Prognosis?," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(5), pages 863-879, December.
    6. Tessa Conroy & Sarah A. Low, 2022. "Entrepreneurship, Broadband, and Gender: Evidence from Establishment Births in Rural America," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 45(1), pages 3-35, January.
    7. John Carruthers & Gordon F. Mulligan, 2012. "The plane of living and the precrisis evolution of housing values in the USA," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(4), pages 739-773, July.
    8. Yong Chen & David J. Lewis & Bruce Weber, 2016. "Conservation Land Amenities And Regional Economies: A Postmatching Difference-In-Differences Analysis Of The Northwest Forest Plan," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 373-394, June.
    9. Fenjie Long & Longfei Zheng & Haifeng Qian, 2023. "Entrepreneurship in China’s peripheral regions," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 70(1), pages 287-313, February.
    10. Dan S. Rickman & Hongbo Wang, 2020. "Whither the American west economy? Natural amenities, mineral resources and nonmetropolitan county growth," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 65(3), pages 673-701, December.
    11. Jinhyoung Kim & Thomas G. Johnson & Byung Min Soon, 2023. "An Explicit Spatial Approach to the Value of Local Social Amenities in Metro and Non-Metro Counties in the U.S.: Implications for Comprehensive Wealth Measurement," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-31, February.
    12. devin michelle bunten & Stephan Weiler & Eric Thompson & Sammy Zahran, 2015. "Entrepreneurship, Information, And Growth," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 560-584, September.
    13. Min Zhang & Mark D. Partridge & Huasheng Song, 2020. "Amenities and the geography of innovation: evidence from Chinese cities," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 65(1), pages 105-145, August.
    14. Tianshu Chu & Qiang Wen, 2019. "Does College Education Promote Entrepreneurship in China?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 463-486, December.
    15. Shiqin Liu & Haifeng Qian & Kingsley E. Haynes, 2021. "Entrepreneurship in Small Cities: Evidence From U.S. Micropolitan Areas," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 35(1), pages 3-21, February.
    16. Paul A. Coomes & Jose Fernandez & Stephan F. Gohmann, 2013. "The Rate of Proprietorship Among Metropolitan Areas: The Impact of the Local Economic Environment and Capital Resources," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 37(4), pages 745-770, July.
    17. Michelacci, Claudio & Schivardi, Fabiano, 2020. "Are they all like Bill, Mark, and Steve? The education premium for entrepreneurs," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    18. Emilio Colombo & Alessandra Michelangeli & Luca Stanca, 2014. "La Dolce Vita : Hedonic Estimates of Quality of Life in Italian Cities," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(8), pages 1404-1418, August.
    19. Sinha, Paramita & Caulkins, Martha & Cropper, Maureen L., 2018. "Do Discrete Choice Approaches to Valuing Urban Amenities Yield Different Results Than Hedonic Models?," RFF Working Paper Series 18-02, Resources for the Future.
    20. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Tobias D. Ketterer, 2012. "Do Local Amenities Affect The Appeal Of Regions In Europe For Migrants?," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 535-561, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rural; Entrepreneurship; Growth; Amenities; Skills gap;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:61:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11187-023-00734-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.