IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/eim/papers/h201109.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Unraveling the relationship between firm size and economic development: The roles of embodied and disembodied technological progress

Author

Listed:
  • André van Stel
  • Emilio Congregado
  • Antonio Golpe

Abstract

In the last decade, an increasing body of literature has studied the relation between economic development and the rate of independent entrepreneurship. For several developed countries, this relation seems to have changed from a negative relation into a positive one. However, the role of technology, and in particular the roles of embodied and disembodied technological progress, in shaping this relation has not yet been established. We estimate a model, based on Lucas (1978), able to disentangle the roles of both these types of technological progress in determining average firm size (a concept closely but inversely related to the rate of independent entrepreneurship) for 23 OECD countries over the period 1972-2008. Our estimations allow us to establish, for each country, the relative importance of embodied technological change, vis-à-vis disembodied technological change, in determining average firm size. Our results suggest that, notwithstanding the rise of independent entrepreneurship observed in many countries over the last few decades, economies of scale and scope (embodied technological change) continue to play an important role in many advanced economies.

Suggested Citation

  • André van Stel & Emilio Congregado & Antonio Golpe, 2012. "Unraveling the relationship between firm size and economic development: The roles of embodied and disembodied technological progress," Scales Research Reports H201109, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:eim:papers:h201109
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.entrepreneurship-sme.eu/pdf-ez/H201109.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mirjam Praag & André Stel, 2013. "The more business owners, the merrier? The role of tertiary education," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 335-357, August.
    2. Andre van Stel, "undated". "COMPENDIA: Harmonizing business ownership data across countries and over time," Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy 2005-05, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group.
    3. Abdulnasser Hatemi-J, 2008. "Tests for cointegration with two unknown regime shifts with an application to financial market integration," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 497-505, November.
    4. André van Stel & Chantal Hartog & J. Cieslik Cieslik, 2010. "Measuring Business Ownership Across Countries and Over Time: Extending the COMPENDIA Data Base," Scales Research Reports H201019, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    5. Kristina Nyström, 2008. "The institutions of economic freedom and entrepreneurship: evidence from panel data," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 269-282, September.
    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. André van Stel & J. Cieslik Cieslik, 2014. "Trends in Business Ownership in Central and East European Transition Economies," Scales Research Reports H201202, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    2. Emilio Congregado & Antonio Golpe & André Stel, 2014. "The role of scale economies in determining firm size in modern economies," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 52(2), pages 431-455, March.
    3. André van Stel & Chantal Hartog & J. Cieslik Cieslik, 2010. "Measuring Business Ownership Across Countries and Over Time: Extending the COMPENDIA Data Base," Scales Research Reports H201019, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    4. André van Stel & Sander Wennekers & Jolanda Hessels & Chantal Hartog, 2011. "Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2010 The Netherlands," Scales Research Reports A201108, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    5. André Stel & Sander Wennekers & Gerard Scholman, 2014. "Solo self-employed versus employer entrepreneurs: determinants and macro-economic effects in OECD countries," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 4(1), pages 107-136, June.
    6. Marcus Box & Karl Gratzer & Xiang Lin, 2023. "Self-employment, corruption, and property rights: a comparative analysis of European and CEE economies," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-29, January.
    7. Okamuro, Hiroyuki & 岡室, 博之 & Van Stel, André & Verheul, Ingrid, 2010. "Understanding the Drivers of an ‘Entrepreneurial’ Economy : Lessons from Japan and the Netherlands," CCES Discussion Paper Series 36, Center for Research on Contemporary Economic Systems, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University.
    8. André van Stel & David Storey & Chantal Hartog, 2010. "Institutions and Entrepreneurship: The Role of The Rule of Law," Scales Research Reports H201003, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    9. Kristina Nyström, 2014. "Business regulation and red tape in the entrepreneurial economy," Chapters, in: Charlie Karlsson & Börje Johansson & Roger R. Stough (ed.), Agglomeration, Clusters and Entrepreneurship, chapter 13, pages 283-300, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Concepción Román & Emilio Congregado & José Millán, 2011. "Dependent self-employment as a way to evade employment protection legislation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 363-392, October.
    11. Jose Maria Millan & Emilio Congregado & Concepcion Roman & Mirjam van Praag & Andre van Stel, 2011. "The Value of an Educated Population for an Individual's Entrepreneurship Success," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 11-066/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 06 May 2014.
    12. Mirjam Praag & André Stel, 2013. "The more business owners, the merrier? The role of tertiary education," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 335-357, August.
    13. André van Stel & Jeroen de Jong & Jolanda Hessels & Chantal Hartog, 2010. "Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2009 The Netherlands," Scales Research Reports A201011, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    14. Brigitte Hoogendoorn & Cornelius A. Rietveld & André Stel, 2016. "Belonging, believing, bonding, and behaving: the relationship between religion and business ownership at the country level," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 519-550, July.
    15. Hugo Erken & Piet Donselaar & Roy Thurik, 2018. "Total factor productivity and the role of entrepreneurship," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(6), pages 1493-1521, December.
    16. Luca Farè & David B. Audretsch & Marcus Dejardin, 2023. "Does democracy foster entrepreneurship?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 1461-1495, December.
    17. André van Stel & Roy Thurik & Gerard Scholman, 2014. "The relationship between entrepreneurial activity, the business cycle and economic openness," Scales Research Reports H201218, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    18. Isabel Grilo & Roy Thurik, 2008. "Determinants of entrepreneurial engagement levels in Europe and the US," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 17(6), pages 1113-1145, December.
    19. Michael Adusei, 2016. "Does Entrepreneurship Promote Economic Growth in Africa?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 28(2), pages 201-214, June.
    20. Oasis Kodila-Tedika & Julius Agbor, 2016. "Does Trust Matter for Entrepreneurship: Evidence from a Cross-Section of Countries," Economies, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-17, March.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:eim:papers:h201109. 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: Webmaster EIM The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Webmaster EIM to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eimbpnl.html .

    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.