The existing literature on cluster embeddedness largely neglects the impact of finance on the development of firms' network linkages. This is striking in so far that particularly venture capital is often referred to as "smart money" providing firms not only with funds but also with network...

This paper studies the effect of regional spillovers on the rate of firm formation in two major West German industries for the time period from 1989 to 1993. I exploit regional variations in firm formation at the county level to identify the effects of historically given industry structure and...