Like all politics, all entrepreneurship is local. Individuals launch firms and, if successful, expand their enterprises to other locations. But new firms must start somewhere, even if their businesses are conducted largely or exclusively on the Internet. Likewise, policymakers at local and state...

This study expands on previous research by including a wider set of local economic and community factors affecting non-farm entrepreneurship or self-employment than have previously been considered. These factors affect both the rates of and returns to self-employment in US counties. Counties in...

"Most agricultural production is of commodity or undifferentiated products. Producers suffer from a roller-coaster ride of price swings, over- or under-production, weather and pest threats, and the inability of family famers to capture anything beyond a small percentage of the final price....