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Using UK data, we present greater empirical detail on the puzzling firm dynamics that emerged during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We show that firm entry increased during the pandemic across several countries, and this contrasts with typical recessions where firm entry declines. Additionally, the rise in firm entry is driven by individual entrepreneurs creating companies for the first time, particularly in online retail. We find evidence that firm creation responded significantly to declines in retail footfall and that firms created during the pandemic are more likely to exit and less likely to post jobs. Overall, this implies that despite surging firm creation during the pandemic, the overall employment effect is limited. Finally, we find that the primary contributor to limited employment creation is the shift in ownership composition of new entrants during COVID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We apply border discontinuity analysis to measure the impact of marginal tax rates on capital income, property, sales, and income on establishment entry on either side of state borders. Establishments are more likely to enter on the side of the border with the lower marginal tax rates. The biggest differences in start-up rates are at borders with the largest tax rate differences, with property tax rate differences mattering most. We rank borders by the differences in start-ups due to tax structure, and we rank states by their distortionary tax structures. The greatest distortion in start-ups due to tax rates is at the Wyoming-Idaho border with an 8.6% lower probability of start-ups on the Idaho side. The most distortionary tax structure is Rhode Island's at 14.2% lower probability of entry, but it is not as heavily disadvantaged at the border because its neighbor, Connecticut, has the third most distortionary tax structure. Plain English Summary: State tax rates affect start-ups at state borders. State taxes on property, sales, personal income, and corporate income affect the side of the border start-ups tend to select. A state with a one-point higher tax rate in each of the four taxes will have a 3.2% lower probability of a start-up than its neighboring state. Property taxes have the greatest adverse effect on start-ups because new firms must pay property taxes, even if they have no sales or income. The greatest distortion in start-ups due to tax rates is Wyoming's 8.6% advantage compared to Idaho. Some states with the most distortionary tax structures are not disadvantaged at their borders because their neighbors also have high tax rates. Rhode Island has the most distortionary tax structure, but it is not as heavily disadvantaged at the border because its neighbor, Connecticut, has the third most distortionary tax structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of corporate taxation on entrepreneurship, using a quasi-natural experiment, which substantially reduced the corporate tax rate for start-ups located in inland municipalities in Portugal. Using a difference-in-differences approach and IV regression, we find that the tax reform increased firm entry and new firm job creation. The entrepreneurs who took advantage of this tax reform are relatively older, and are better-educated individuals. Their start-ups are relatively larger, more productive, and are more likely to survive the first 3 years. These findings suggest that corporate taxation is an imperative constraint for entrepreneurship, particularly for high-quality entrepreneurs. These better-educated individuals find it easier to overcome the hurdles of tax legislation and to make use of the opportunities created by a specific tax reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A nascent body of research suggests that economic freedom is positively associated with entrepreneurial activity. Most of this literature is based on cross-countries analyses, although there is significant regional heterogeneity in entrepreneurial activity and the institutional and policy context within countries. The literature also largely overlooks the potential for the entrepreneurial inducing effects of economic freedom to drive less efficient firms out of the market. Additionally, economic freedom is a multi-dimensional construct comprised of numerous underlying aspects of the institutional and policy environment, but most studies have employed a composite economic freedom measure to assess its impact on entrepreneurial activity. I contribute to these gaps in the literature by decomposing the recently developed Metropolitan Economic Freedom Index into its underlying institutional indicators to explore their potential impact on the firm entry and firm exit rates for a sample of nearly 300 US cities over the period 1972–2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young firms are known to grow at a faster rate than incumbents. With administrative firm data from Germany, we show that the higher growth rates indeed translate into upward mobility within the sector-specific firm size distribution. Young firms are therefore not only able to catch up with incumbents, but also able to grow larger in absolute values. Recentered influence function regression results reveal that young firms cause significant rank mobility within the stock of firms, which even holds when the local skewness of the firm size distribution is accounted for. The results clearly indicate a Schumpeterian growth process where young firms challenge established ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a rich data set of the Dutch manufacturing sector between 1995 and 2010, we investigate the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on domestic new firm entry. The emerging empirical literature has focused on the direct relationship between FDI and entry, but has not explored the mechanisms behind the observed effect. Drawing on a simultaneous equations model, our analysis features both the direct effect of FDI as well as indirect effects through two channels: industry competition and wages. We estimate the parameters through 3SLS and take into account the endogeneity of competition and wages with respect to entry. Our results show that there is a significant negative direct effect of FDI on entry. At the same time, FDI decreases competition and increases wage levels, which then impact entry positively and negatively, respectively. The total effect of FDI is negative, but small and virtually disappears after one year. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the effect of foreign bank presence on new firm entry in 83 economies over the 2005–2013 period. The empirical findings show that foreign bank presence exerts a positive and significant effect on firm entry. This effect subsides in countries with strong creditor rights, while it strengthens in economies with high depth of credit information sharing. In further analysis, we find that the type of credit information sharing provider matters. The positive effect of foreign bank presence on firm entry strengthens in the presence of a private credit bureau, whereas it is subdued in the presence of a public credit registry. Finally, we find some evidence that cultural and information sharing distance between home and host economies weakens the positive effect of foreign bank presence on firm entry. In terms of policy, attracting foreign banks while strengthening credit information sharing through private credit bureaus could benefit entrepreneurship in host economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professor Philippe Aghion is the 2016 recipient of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research, consisting of 100,000 Euros and a statuette designed by the internationally renowned Swedish sculptor Carl Milles. He is one of the most influential researchers worldwide in economics in the last couple of decades. His research has advanced our understanding of the relationship between firm-level innovation, entry and exit on the one hand, and productivity and growth on the other. Aghion has thus accomplished to bridge theoretical macroeconomic growth models with a more complete and consistent microeconomic setting. He is one of the founding fathers of the pioneering and original contribution referred to as Schumpeterian growth theory. Philippe Aghion has not only contributed with more sophisticated theoretical models, but also provided empirical evidence regarding the importance of entrepreneurial endeavours for societal prosperity, thereby initiating a more nuanced policy discussion concerning the interdependencies between entrepreneurship, competition, wealth and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Panel data on the entry of both worker cooperative and capitalist firms in Spain are used to test the spatial determinants at regional level. Cooperative firms in general are also included in the analysis. We focus on supply, demand and institutional factors, including specific factors of cooperatives as model of analysis. Data are for the period 1995-2009 for NUT-2 regions in Spain, one of the European countries with a more dynamic cooperative sector. Results show the main determinant of the creation of worker cooperatives is the unemployment level, followed by the wage level in the region, the population growth and the emergence of strong cooperative culture. We also find the party in the regional government affects to the creation rate. Compared with capitalist firms, we observe a contrary sense in the influence of unemployment level and a higher importance of the influence of the governing party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do firm entry and exit improve the competitiveness of regions? If so, is this a universal mechanism or is it contingent on the type of industry or region in which creative destruction takes place? This paper analyses the effect of firm entry and exit on the competitiveness of regions, as measured by total factor productivity (TFP) growth. Based on a study across 40 regions in the Netherlands over the period 1988-2002, we find that firm entry is related to productivity growth in services, but not in manufacturing. The positive impact found in services does not necessarily imply that new firms are more efficient than incumbent firms; high degrees of creative destruction may also improve the efficiency of incumbent firms. We also find that the impact of firm dynamics on regional productivity in services is higher in regions exhibiting diverse but related economic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a new sectoral taxonomy, which classifies industries according to the opportunity and cost of experimentation. Econometric tests show for a sample of 24 countries that in the 1990s ‘entrepreneurial’ industries with a mutable and growing firm population experienced the highest growth in terms of value added and employment, but also the lowest growth of labour productivity. ‘Entrepreneurial’ industries generally earned a better profit-ratio than ‘routinised’ industries with an inertial population. The results are consistent with entrepreneurial theories of market competition, which suggest that entry follows profit opportunities but does not deplete them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the effects of new business formation on employment growth in Spanish manufacturing industries. New firms are believed to make an important contribution to economic growth but the extent of this contribution is unclear. We consider time lags of new firm formation as explanatory variables of employment change and identify how long the effect of new firm entries on employment lasts. Our main results show that the effects of new business formation are positive in the short term, negative in the medium term and positive in the long term, thus confirming the existence of indirect supply-side effects found in similar studies for other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]