Creating Firms for a New Century: Determinants of Firm Creation Around 1900

35 Pages Posted: 10 Nov 2003

See all articles by Jörg Baten

Jörg Baten

University of Tuebingen - Department of Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Date Written: October 2003

Abstract

A rapidly growing literature in industrial economics and regional economics uses data sets of individual firms or regional firm creation rates to answer the central question: What makes entrepreneurs? Which factors encourage some people to set up their own business and create jobs, and what prevents potential entrepreneurs from doing so? This contribution explores the determinants of regional differences in firm creation rates by using a new data set of 4036 individual firms from Southwest Germany around 1900. Agglomeration effects and earlier firm creations stimulate current firm creation. In addition, a small and medium firm environment allows the formation of specific human capital - another favourable factor for a dynamic firm creation process in some regions.

JEL Classification: L20, R12, N63

Suggested Citation

Baten, Jorg, Creating Firms for a New Century: Determinants of Firm Creation Around 1900 (October 2003). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=464541 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.464541

Jorg Baten (Contact Author)

University of Tuebingen - Department of Economics ( email )

Mohlstrasse 36
D-72074 Tuebingen, 72074
Germany
+49 7071 2972985 (Phone)
+49 7071 295119 (Fax)

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

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