IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wiw/wiwrsa/ersa13p1173.html

Determinants of territorial differences in entrepreneurial rates. An empirical analysis of Italian local systems

Author

Listed:
  • Giulio Cainelli

  • Donato Iacobucci

  • Alessandra Micozzi

Abstract

According to the last GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) surveys, Italy has one of the lowest rates of entrepreneurial activity among innovation driven countries. Moreover, Italy is characterized by large territorial differences in the entrepreneurial rates. The main aims of this paper are to provide a better understanding of the factors affecting territorial differences in entrepreneurial rates and to explain their persistence over time. Specifically, the paper compares the relative importance of socio-demographics factors, such as activity rates and social capital, and economic factors, such as the structure and organization of local production systems. The persistence of territorial differences may depend on the persistence of differences in explanatory variables or on the path dependent effect. For the empirical analysis, we consider the creation of new firms in Italy from 2001 to 2009 using the Movimprese database provided by the Chambers of Commerce. The database provides information on new firm formation at territorial level (103 provinces) and disaggregated by sector of activity. Using the adult population as normalizing variable, the entrepreneurial rate is defined as the total number of new firms in a year on the adult population at the beginning of the year. We consider entrepreneurial rates referring to the overall sectors and for the manufacturing industry. For the econometric estimates we use several sets of independent variables, referring to push and pull factors. Some of the variables refer to structural characteristics and for this reason are time-invariant (this is the case of the social capital index). Other variables vary by province and by year. The first result is that the territorial differences of entrepreneurial rates shows a strong persistence over time: provinces with high entry-rates in the past are most likely to have high level of start-up activity in the future. This is true most of all for the new firms in manufacturing sectors where the factors linked to the social and economic context are important are stable over time. Moreover, socio-demographic factors show a higher relevance in explaining territorial differences in entrepreneurial rates than economic factors. This is valid for the total entrepreneurial rate as well as for explaining new firm formation in manufacturing sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Giulio Cainelli & Donato Iacobucci & Alessandra Micozzi, 2013. "Determinants of territorial differences in entrepreneurial rates. An empirical analysis of Italian local systems," ERSA conference papers ersa13p1173, European Regional Science Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa13p1173
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www-sre.wu.ac.at/ersa/ersaconfs/ersa13/ERSA2013_paper_01173.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Evan J. Douglas & Dean A. Shepherd, 2002. "Self-Employment as a Career Choice: Attitudes, Entrepreneurial Intentions, and Utility Maximization," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 26(3), pages 81-90, April.
    2. Audretsch, David B & Vivarelli, Marco, 1996. "Firms Size and R&D Spillovers: Evidence from Italy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 249-258, June.
    3. Foti, Alessandro & Vivarelli, Marco, 1994. "An Econometric Test of the Self-Employment Model: The Case of Italy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 81-93, April.
    4. Werner Bönte & Oliver Falck & Stephan Heblich, 2009. "The Impact of Regional Age Structure on Entrepreneurship," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 85(3), pages 269-287, July.
    5. Evans, David S & Jovanovic, Boyan, 1989. "An Estimated Model of Entrepreneurial Choice under Liquidity Constraints," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 808-827, August.
    6. Wagner, Joachim, 2004. "Are Young and Small Firms Hothouses for Nascent Entrepreneurs? Evidence from German Micro Data," IZA Discussion Papers 989, IZA Network @ LISER.
    7. Martin Andersson & Sierdjan Koster, 2011. "Sources of persistence in regional start-up rates--evidence from Sweden," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 179-201, January.
    8. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew & Stutzer, Alois, 2001. "Latent entrepreneurship across nations," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 680-691, May.
    9. Giacomo Becattini & Marco Bellandi & Lisa De Propis (ed.), 2009. "A Handbook of Industrial Districts," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12736.
    10. Pietro Alessandrini & Andrea F. Presbitero & Alberto Zazzaro, 2010. "Bank size or distance: what hampers innovation adoption by SMEs?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(6), pages 845-881, November.
    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. Erik Monsen & Prashanth Mahagaonkar & Christian Dienes, 2012. "Entrepreneurship in India: the question of occupational transition," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 359-382, September.
    2. Sander Wennekers & Roy Thurik & André Stel & Niels Noorderhaven, 2010. "Uncertainty Avoidance and the Rate of Business Ownership Across 21 OECD Countries, 1976–2004," Springer Books, in: Andreas Freytag & Roy Thurik (ed.), Entrepreneurship and Culture, chapter 0, pages 271-299, Springer.
    3. Verheul, Ingrid & Thurik, Roy & Grilo, Isabel & van der Zwan, Peter, 2012. "Explaining preferences and actual involvement in self-employment: Gender and the entrepreneurial personality," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 325-341.
    4. Isabel Grilo & Jesus Maria Irigoyen, 2005. "Entrepreneurship in the EU: to wish and not to be," Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy 2005-01, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group.
    5. Verheul, I. & Thurik, A.R. & Grilo, I., 2008. "Explaining Preferences and Actual Involvement in Self-Employment: New Insights into the Role of Gender," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2008-003-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    6. Enrico Santarelli & Marco Vivarelli, 2007. "Entrepreneurship and the process of firms’ entry, survival and growth," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(3), pages 455-488, June.
    7. Roy Thurik & Isabel Grilo, 2005. "Latent and actual entrepreneurship in Europe and the US: some recent developments," Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy 2005-24, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group.
    8. Rachel G. Childers, 2011. "Being One'S Own Boss: How Does Risk Fit In?," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 56(1), pages 48-58, May.
    9. Jolanda Hessels & José María Millán & Concepción Román, 2015. "The Importance of Being in Control of Business: Work Satisfaction of Employers, Own-account Workers and Employees," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 15-047/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    10. Bickenbach, Frank & Dohse, Dirk & Liu, Wan-Hsin, 2014. "An inquiry into the determinants of graduate entrepreneurship in Hong Kong and Guangzhou (Mainland China)," Kiel Working Papers 1940, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
    11. Mahé, Clothilde, 2016. "Skills and entrepreneurship: Are return migrants 'Jacks-of-all-trades'?," MERIT Working Papers 2016-071, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    12. Marcén, Miriam, 2013. "The effect of culture on self-employment," MPRA Paper 47338, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Francesco Campo & Luca Nunziata & Lorenzo Rocco, 2024. "Business is tense: new evidence on how language affects economic activity," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 121-149, March.
    14. Hyytinen, Ari & Takalo, Tuomas, 2008. "Investor protection and business creation," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 113-122, June.
    15. Szaban Jolanta & Skrzek-Lubasińska Małgorzata, 2018. "Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship: A Theoretical Approach," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 26(2), pages 89-120, June.
    16. Coduras, Alicia & Saiz-Alvarez, José Manuel & Ruiz, Jesús, 2016. "Measuring Readiness for Entrepreneurship: An Information Tool Proposal," MPRA Paper 86603, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Huan Yang & Xinning Zhang, 2023. "Persistence of culture: how the entrepreneurial culture of origin contributes to migrant entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 1179-1204, October.
    18. Rafael P. Ribas, 2014. "Liquidity Constraints, Informal Financing, and Entrepreneurship: Direct and Indirect Effects of a Cash Transfer Programme," Working Papers 131, International Policy Centre.
    19. Blanchflower, David G. & Shadforth, Chris, 2007. "Entrepreneurship in the UK," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 3(4), pages 257-364, July.
    20. Ron Boschma, 2015. "Do spinoff dynamics or agglomeration externalities drive industry clustering? A reappraisal of Steven Klepper’s work," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 24(4), pages 859-873.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa13p1173. 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: Gunther Maier (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ersa.org .

    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.