A series of empirical studies has identified that a pervasive shift in the industrial structure away from large corporations and towards small enterprises has taken place between the mid-1970s and early 1990s. This shift occurred in virtually every single leading industrial country. The...

The decision to become an entrepreneur is in essence an individual decision. But even when the endowments of inhabitants are taken into account, some regions have persistently higher entrepreneurship rates than others. Proposed explanations for this regional variation are numerous: market...

We investigate the manifold posed question: To what extent does investment in human and social capital, besides the effect of talent, enhance entrepreneurial performance? We distinguish between three different performance measures: survival, profits, and generated employment. On the basis of the...

Two approaches can be distinguished with respect to modelling entrepreneurship: (i) the approachfocusing on the net development of the number of entrepreneurs in an equilibrium framework and (ii)the approach focusing on the entries and exits of entrepreneurs. In this paper we unify these...

This article investigates empirically whether and to what extent initial capital constraints hinder entrepreneurial performance once the venture has been started. Prior empirical research in this area could investigate this issue only indirectly by lack of data. The key contribution of this...

In the media role models are increasingly being acknowledged as an influential factor in explaining the reasons for the choice of occupation and career. Various conceptual studies have proposed links between role models and entrepreneurial intentions. However, empirical research aimed at...