A Proposed Framework for Business Demography Statistics

Abstract

This chapter provides a step in that direction by proposing a framework of business demography indicators that can be applied across all OECD and large non OECD economies. The framework tries to provide a mechanism by which more comparable indicators of business demography can be produced across countries by considering both what is practically achievable and desirable. The framework deliberately sets out to measure business demographics. It does not therefore make proposals concerning other important indicators of entrepreneurship such as the characteristics of entrepreneurs (age, sex, education, previous entrepreneurial experience etc), entrepreneurial and related policies (government policy, bankruptcy regulations, access to finance, fiscal policy—personal and business taxes—business administrative burdens, employment laws, social security safety nets etc) or the characteristics of businesses that may predetermine success, such as research and development expenditure; although this work is being pursued as part of the OECD’s Entrepreneurship Indicators Project (see Davis, 2006). That said, the framework is able to provide information on types of businesses, successful, young, old, sector specific, etc, that can be used to provide the frame for dedicated surveys that attempt to determine what makes businesses succeed or fail.