We use a new database, the National Establishment Time Series (NETS), to revisit the debate about the role of small businesses in job creation. Birch (e.g., 1987) argued that small firms are the most important source of job creation in the U.S. economy. But Davis et al. (1996a) argued that this...

Very little is known about the effectiveness of SME policies, and a careful look at the structure, mechanisms and incentives provided by these policies suggest caution in their implementation and, most importantly, the need to carefully and closely monitor their results. This paper relies on the...

Statistics Finland maintains a database which includes firm level data on public support in Finland. During this study it contained data from the years 2000-6. So far the data has been underutilized in economic and statistical analyses. We use the database in this descriptive study mainly to...

We use the databases of Statistics Finland to explore the supply of public support for firms in Finland during the years 2000-2008. Particularly, this report provides a descriptive analysis of complementarities and repetitiousness of public support from the perspective of the applying firms. We...

We use a comprehensive database concerning the application and allocation of business subsidies in Finland merged with the firm-level data comprising about 330 000 firms from the year 2004 to 2008. We find strong continuities in participation both within and between the different public support...

Our empirical analysis using an extensive database on the allocation of busi-ness subsidies in Finland during the years 2004-2008 finds that large firms are less likely to exit support system and more likely to continue receiving both support from one organization only and simultaneous support...

This article first reviews the economic rationales for innovation policy. It then describes the Finnish innovation policy and policy making environment. The Finnish policy is evaluated from the point of view of fostering entrepreneurship. R&D subsidies, the main tool of Finnish innovation...

Over the last few years we have observed a prominent flourishing of empirical studies on the determinants of new business creation and its effect on the economy. The present study focuses on an important determinant of entrepreneurship: the quality of institutions. This paper is an empirical...

This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between self-employment and unem-ployment rates. On the one hand, high unemployment rates may lead to start-up activity of self-employed individuals (the "refugee" effect). On the other hand, higher rates of self-employment may indicate increased...

This study investigates the relationship between macroeconomic and microeconomic policies and entrepreneurial dynamics in two economies transitioning from planned economies to free markets, comparing them to a developed economy. Macroeconomic policies, despite not directly targeting...