Persistence and change in regional entrepreneurship performance: a three-economy comparison

Abstract

This paper compares the factors related to the persistence and change of regional levels of new business formation in the United States, England and Wales, and West Germany. The three economies are highly comparable both in levels of path dependency in their regional start-up rate rankings and in the factors related to long-term changes in regional start-up performance. Regional levels of human capital, foreign-born population and population density explain improvement regional performance, whereas regional wages, population age structure, small firm presence and regional industry structure are not major factors. We propose policy implications and an agenda for further research.