André van Stel

• Panteia / EIM

We investigate whether start-up motive is related to the entrepreneur's earnings, and whether start-up motive moderates the relationship between the entrepreneur's business tenure (i.e., the time the entrepreneur is running the business) and earnings. We employ a unique longitudinal data base providing information on start-up motive and earnings fo...

We study the role of the business cycle in the individual decision of own-account workers to hire employees. Using panel data from the European Community Household Panel for the EU-15 countries, we show that own-account workers are less likely to hire employees during recessions. Next, we focus on identifying the underlying mechanisms of this negat...

We investigate the interplay among entrepreneurial activity, business cycles and unemployment in relation to economic openness. Additionally, we explore to what extent the observation frequency (quarterly versus annual data) influences the estimation results. Following the empirical literature, we estimate a pooled vector autoregression (VAR) model...

Many regional development policy initiatives assume that entrepreneurial activities promote economic growth. Empirical research has presented rationale for this argument showing that small firms create proportionally more new jobs than large firms. However, little research has been performed on the issue of net job generation at the urban level, pa...

We undertake the first research to move analysis beyond estimating the propensity for a person to become an informal investor and onto the core concern which is the total volume of venture finance. We find that a 1 % increase in entrepreneurial activity increases the number of informal investors by 1.7 %. However, the average invested amount declin...

Given the big employment losses in the current economic and financial crisis, not only the creation of new jobs is important for economic and social welfare, but also the conservation of existing jobs. In this respect, it is crucial that firms that employ personnel survive. In this article, we investigate the role of the technological environment i...

Most entrepreneurship theory depicts disequilibrium as the most common state for entrepreneurial activity and yet remarkably very little empirical research investigates the role of entry and exit in this type of external environment. Drawing on economics and organizational ecology we outline reasons why the interrelation between entry, exit and inc...

This paper examines the impact of employment protection legislation (EPL) on hiring decisions by own-account workers and firing decisions by very small firms (one to four employees). Using data from the EU-15 countries, our results show that the strictness of employment protection legislation is negatively related to both these types of decisions,...

Following a centuries-long decline in the rate of self-employment, a discontinuity in this downward trend is observed for many advanced economies starting in the 1970s and 1980s. In some countries the rate of self-employment appears to increase. At the same time, cross-sectional analysis shows a U-shaped relationship between start-up rates of enter...

Spain is destroying more jobs than any other European country. In the third quarter of 2009, the unemployment rate stood at 17.9%, the second-highest rate in the 27-nation EU and the highest rate in the euro area (EA-16). The exponential growth of the Spanish unemployment rate is the by-product of falling employment rates. However, there is a secon...

In this paper, we empirically investigate the effect of entrepreneurship on economic growth at the country level. We use data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, which provides comparative data on entrepreneurship from a wide range of countries. An important element of this paper is that we compare the effects of entrepreneurial activity on e...

Recent literature suggests that two types of competition may contribute to macro-economic performance: the extent of new-firm entry and the extent of competition among incumbent firms. In the present paper we explain employment growth at the region-sector level using direct indicators for both these types of competition -the start-up rate and the m...

In 2010 was 7,2% van alle Nederlanders in de leeftijdscategorie 18-64 jaar bezig om een nieuw bedrijf op te richten of actief als ondernemer van een bedrijf dat korter dan 3,5 jaar bestaat. Hiermee heeft Nederland vorig jaar voor het eerst de koppositie ingenomen van de EU-landen die deelnemen aan het jaarlijkse wereldwijde onderzoek van de Global...

Although recent literature suggests that competition among incumbent firms is caused by the entry of new firms, this relationship has not yet been tested directly. In this study a regression model is established in which a direct measure of competition among incumbent firms, the market mobility rate, is explained by start-up rates and control varia...

This paper examines the prevalence and the determinants of informal entrepreneurial investment activity (including investors in firms of family and friends, and business angels), using a dataset of more than 175,000 individuals – including some 4000 informal investors – in 28 highly developed countries over the period 2002–04. We distinguish betwee...

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is a research program executed annually with the aim to obtain internationally comparative high quality research data on entrepreneurial activity at the national level. This academic research consortium started as a partnership between the London Business School and Babson College in 1999 and started with 1...

We estimate a two-equation model to jointly determine the number of informal investors and the amount of money that they invest over the last 3 years. Our model uses data on 126,189 individuals in 21 highly developed countries in the period 2002-2006. We delve deeper into the hypothesis of Burke et al (2010) that ‘the demand for informal venture fi...

This paper conducts the first general equilibrium analysis of the role of entry, exit and profits in industry dynamics. The benefit of our model is twofold. First, to discriminate between entrants’ role of performing the entrepreneurial function of creating disequilibrium and the conventional equilibrating role of moving the industry to a new equil...

In this paper the relationship between a country’s prevalence of new ventures and its rate of economic growth is investigated, while taking into account new ventures’ export orientation. It is generally acknowledged that new venture creation as well as export activity may both be important strategies for achieving national economic growth. However,...

The chapter is structured as follows. After starting with a review of the literature on growth ambitions of entrepreneurs and high-growth firms in Sect. 5.2, we will discuss public policy aimed at high-growth firms in general in the third section. Next, high-growth firms in the USA and the Netherlands are evaluated. In the empirical part of the c...

The relationship between unemployment and self-employment has been studied extensively. Due to its complex, multifaceted nature, various scholars have found a large array of different results, so that the exact nature of the relation is still not clear. An important element of the relation is captured by the recession-push hypothesis which states t...

The main contribution of entrepreneurship theory to economics is to provide an account of market performance in disequilibrium but little empirical research has examined firm entry and exit in this context. We redress this by modelling the interrelationship between firm entry and exit in disequilibrium. Introducing a new methodology we investigate...

Following a centuries-long decline in the rate of self-employment, a remarkable discontinuity in this downward trend since the 1970s and 1980s for many advanced economies seems beyond doubt. In some of these countries we even see a downright and ongoing revival of selfemployment. At the same time, cross-sectional analysis shows a significant U-shap...

The recent work of Kim and Mauborgne (2005a) has sought to turn strategic management on its head. They note that the field has been dominated by Porter’s (1980, 1985) competitive strategy and it has placed too much emphasis on the importance of competition and rivalry. By contrast they argue in favour of an alternative strategic approach – blue oce...

Business dynamics in an industry is generally seen as an important indicator of the industry's level of competitiveness and economic performance. Two types of business dynamics may be distinguished: business dynamics reflecting competition by new-firm entries and business dynamics reflecting competition among incumbent firms. A growing literature p...

This paper examines the prevalence and the determinants of informal entrepreneurial investment activity (i.e. the 3 FFFs –friends, fools and family– and business angels), using a data set of more than 175,000 individuals – including some 4000 informal investors – in a large number of highly developed countries over the period 2002-2004. We distingu...

We draw on the knowledge spillover literature to suggest that a country’s proportion of export-oriented new ventures represents an outcome of knowledge spillovers that stem from foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade (export spillovers) as well as a source of knowledge spillovers (entrepreneurship spillovers). To test the hypothese...

This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between self-employment and unemployment 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 entrepreneurial activity reducing unemployment in subse...

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) presents an annual assessment of the national level of ‘early-stage’ entrepreneurial activity and the institutional conditions to which it is subject in a large number of countries. Within the framework of GEM a TEA (Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity) index has been developed to measure (early-stag...

This chapter investigates the relation between changes in self-employment and changes in unemployment at the regional level in Spain in the period 1979-2001. We estimate a vector autoregression model as proposed by Audretsch, Carree, van Stel and Thurik (2005) using a data base for Spanish regions. By estimating the model we are able to empirically...

This paper examines the relationship between entrepreneurship (as measured by fluctuations in the business ownership rate) and unemployment in Japan for the period between 1972 and 2002. We find that, although Japan’s unemployment rate has been influenced by specific exogenous shocks, the effects of entrepreneurship on unemployment are not differen...

This exploratory study defines a number of propositions regarding the relation between social security arrangements and the rate of early-stage entrepreneurial activity at the country level. We state that in investigating this relation it may be relevant to distinguish between social security contributions paid by employers and employees, and to lo...

This paper revisits the two-equation model of Carree, van Stel, Thurik and Wennekers (2002) where deviations from the 'equilibrium' rate of business ownership play a central role in determining both the growth of business ownership and that of economic development. Two extensions of the original set-up are addressed: using longer time series of ave...

We examine the relationship, across 39 countries, between regulation and entrepreneurship using a new two-equation model. We find the minimum capital requirement required to start a business lowers entrepreneurship rates across countries, as do labour market regulations. However the administrative considerations of starting a business – such as the...

We investigate the impact of entrepreneurial diversity on national economic growth. More specifically, using data for 36 countries participating in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, we investigate whether the impact of entrepreneurial activity is different for different sociodemographic groups. Diversity is measured in terms of age, education an...

Persistent differences in the level of business ownership across countries have attracted the attention of scientific as well as political debate. Cultural as well as economic influences are assumed to play a role. This paper deals with the influence of cultural attitudes towards uncertainty on the rate of business ownership across 21 OECD countrie...

While it is generally acknowledged that entrepreneurship as well as export activity may both be important strategies for achieving national economic growth, it has remained unclear how export activity among new ventures is related to economic growth. This paper investigates whether the presence of export-oriented entrepreneurs is a more important d...

This paper re-examines the link between new firm formation and subsequent employment growth. It investigates whether it is possible to have the wrong type of entrepreneurship—defined as new firm formation which leads to zero or even negative subsequent employment growth. It uses a very similar approach to that of Fritsch and Mueller (Regional Studi...

In this paper we draw upon the economics literature, and the literature on knowledge spillovers in particular, to examine to what extent a country's level of foreign direct investment (both inward and outward) and international trade (export and import) influence the export orientation of its entrepreneurs. We also examine the relationship between...

This paper investigates to what extent determinants of the rate of independent startups and the rate of new subsidiaries are different. Using a regional data base for the Netherlands over the period 1988-2002, we investigate the impact of two types of agglomeration effects, localisation and urbanisation, while controlling for a range of economic va...

This paper investigates whether the presence of ambitious entrepreneurs is a more important determinant of national economic growth than entrepreneurial activity in general. We use data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor to test the extent to which high growth ambitions of entrepreneurs affect GDP growth for a sample of 36 countries. Our resu...

This is an updated version of Research Report H200503

Using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data for 29 countries this study investigates the (differential) impact of several factors on female and male entrepreneurship at the country level. These factors are derived from three streams of literature, including that on entrepreneurship in general, on female labor force participation and on female entrep...

This paper investigates the effect of business regulations on various measures of entrepreneurship. Using data for a sample of countries participating in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor between 2002 and 2005, we estimate a two-equation model explaining the nascent and the actual entrepreneurship rate, while taking into account the interrelation...

This exploratory study focuses on the conversion from nascent to actual entrepreneurship and the role of entry barriers in this process. Using data for a sample of countries partici-pating in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor between 2002 and 2004, we estimate a two-equation model explaining the nascent entrepreneurship rate and the young busines...

This paper examines the interrelations between self-employment and unemployment rates for Spain in the period 1972-2004, comparing them with the general pattern observed for OECD countries. We apply the model as proposed by Audretsch, Carree, van Stel and Thurik (2005) to Spain. The divergence between predicted and actual unemployment levels in Spa...

Purpose Administrative burdens are known to be a major business constraint for incumbent small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in modern economies. Far less is known about the influence of these burdens on the start‐up of new firms. The current paper aims to examine to what extent perceived administrative complexity related to starting a new bus...

Este artículo indaga si la actividad de los llamados empresarios ambiciosos es más determinante para el crecimiento económico de los países que la actividad emprendedora en general. Utilizamos datos del Global Entrepreneurship Monitor de una muestra de 36 países para comprobar hasta qué punto las ambiciones de alto crecimiento de los emprendedores...

This paper examines the interrelations between self-employment and unemployment rates for Spain in the period 1972-2004, comparing them with the general pattern observed for OECD countries. We apply the model as proposed by Audretsch, Carree, van Stel and Thurik (2005) to Spain. The divergence between predicted and actual unemployment levels in Spa...

The relationship between entrepreneurship, measured by fluctuations in the business ownership rate, and unemployment in Japan is examined for the period 1972-2002. We conclude that, although Japan's unemployment rate has been influenced by different exogenous shocks as compared to other OECD countries, the effects of entrepreneurship on unemploymen...

ABSTRACT : This paper looks at how well Finland performs in high growth entrepreneurship and uses data from the Global Entrepreneurship monitor to benchmark Finland against other European countries. It is found that Finland’s prevalence rate of high growth entrepreneurial activity lags significantly behind most of its European and all of its Scandi...

Based upon two strands of literature, this paper hypothesizes a U-shaped relationship between a country's rate of entrepreneurial dynamics and its level of economic development. This would imply a different scope for entrepreneurship policy across subsequent stages of development. Regressing GEM's 2002 data for nascent entrepreneurship in 36 countr...

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between strategic renewal and the performance of smaller firms (less than 100 employees). We use a panel of micro data on about 1000 Dutch firms. The dataset contains information on aspects of strategic renewal, including process innovation and knowledge management. In our regression analyses we explai...

This paper aims at explaining cross-country variation in nascent entrepreneurship. Regression analysis is applied using various explanatory variables derived from three different approaches. We make use of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor database, including nascent entrepreneurship rates for 36 countries in 2002 as well as variables from standa...

This article deals with explaining the sizable differences in the rate of self-employment (business ownership) across 15 European countries in the period 1978–2000, within a framework of occupational choice, focusing on the influence of dissatisfaction and of per capita income. Using two different measures of dissatisfaction, in addition to the lev...

The increased importance of knowledge as a source of competitiveness for modern economies suggests that the organization of industries most conducive to innovative activity and unrestrained competition will be linked to higher growth rates. Entrepreneurial activity is generally assumed to be an important aspect of this organization. In the present...

We investigated the development of business ownership (self-employment) rates over time at the sectoral level and the effect of these rates on sectoral output growth. In an earlier exercise, Carree et al. (2002) presented an analysis of the interrelationship between economy-wide business-ownership rates and economic development. Their analysis rais...

The present study aims at explaining female and male entrepreneurship from a country perspective. Explanatory variables are derived from three streams of literature, including the literature on the determinants of entrepreneurship in general, on female labor force participation, and on female entrepreneurship. To test hypotheses we make use of Glob...

ABSTRACT : This paper looks at how well Finland performs in high growth entrepreneurship and uses data from the Global Entrepreneurship monitor to benchmark Finland against other European countries. It is found that Finland’s prevalence rate of high growth entrepreneurial activity lags significantly behind most of its European and all of its Scandi...

This paper deals with the influence of cultural attitudes towards uncertainty on the level of business ownership across countries. First, the concepts of uncertainty and risk are elaborated, as well as their relevance for entrepreneurship. Second, cross-sectional regression analysis using data for three separate years in twenty Western countries an...

This paper deals with differences in the rate of self-employment (business ownership) in 15 European countries for the period 1978-2000, focusing on the influence of dissatisfaction and using the framework of occupational choice. Using two different measures of dissatisfaction, in addition to the level of economic development, the unemployment rate...

ABSTRACT : This paper looks at how well Finland performs in high growth entrepreneurship and uses data from the Global Entrepreneurship monitor to benchmark Finland against other European countries. It is found that Finland’s prevalence rate of high growth entrepreneurial activity lags significantly behind most of its European and all of its Scandi...

This paper examines the relationship between firm births and job creation in Great Britain. We use a new data set for 60 British regions, covering the whole of Great Britain, between 1980 and 1998. The central theme of the paper is that, with the exception of a recent paper by Audretsch and Fritsch for Germany, the relationship between new-firm sta...

The importance of knowledge spillovers for achieving innovation and economic growth is widely recognized. It is not straightforward which type of spillovers is most effective: intra-sectoral spillovers or inter-sectoral spillovers. We investigate this controversy using a model of regional growth. The model also deals with the impact of local compet...

This paper examines the relationship between firm births and job creation in Great Britain. We use a new data set for 60 British regions, covering the whole of Great Britain, between 1980 and 1998. The central theme of the paper is that, with the exception of a recent paper by Audretsch and Fritsch for Germany, the relationship between new-firm sta...

PRISMA - an acronym of Policy Research Instrument for Size-aspects in Macro-economic Analysis - is an economic macro-sector model. It has been designed in such a way that it produces results consistent with those produced by the current macro-sector model of CPB, Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. PRISMA is used for forecasting, scena...

This paper documents that a process of industrial restructuring has been transforming the developed economies, where large corporations are accounting for less economic activity and small firms are accounting for a greater share of economic activity. Not all countries, however, are experiencing the same shift in their industrial structures. Little...

In the present paper we address the relationship between business ownership and economic development. We will focus upon three issues. First, how is the equilibrium rate of business ownership related to the stage of economic development? Second, what is the speed of convergence towards the equilibrium rate when the rate of business ownership is out...

Dit rapport gaat over marktwerking in de bouw in de periode 1983-1993. Met behulp van een marktwerkingsmodel wordt op basis van de prijsopslag afgeleid of bedrijven concurreren of samenspannen. Het blijkt dat in de bouw overwegend concurrentie plaatsvindt. De belangrijkste oorzaak hiervoor is het relatief grote aantal kleine bedrijven. De marktwerk...

Studie naar de relatie tussen het aantal zelfstandige ondernemers en economische groei. Onderzocht wordt het bestaan van een lange termijn relatie tussen het aantal ondernemers en de fase van economische ontwikkeling. Daarnaast wordt ingegaan op het feit dat zelfstandige ondernemerschap aantrekkelijker wordt doordat een daling van de economische gr...

Persistent differences in the level of business ownership across countries have attracted the attention of scientific as well as political debate. Cultural as well as economic influences are assumed to play a role. This paper deals with the influence of cultural attitudes towards uncertainty on the rate of business ownership across 21 OECD countrie...

Persistent differences in the level of business ownership across economically developed nations have attracted the attention of scientific as well as political debate. Cultural rather than economic influences are assumed to play a decisive role. This paper deals with the influence of cultural attitudes towards uncertainty on the level of business o...

This paper investigates whether the presence of amb itious entrepreneurs is a more important determinant of national economic growth than entrepreneurial activity in general. We use data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor to te st the extent to which high growth ambitions are reflected in GDP growth for a sample of 36 countries. The rate of a...

In light of the current economic crisis, banks and other financial institutions have become more and more reluctant to provide financial capital for new ventures. Therefore the importance of informal investors for entrepreneurial activity and new business venturing has increased. Several studies extensively describe and analyze the characteristics...

In this paper we draw on knowledge spillover literature to suggest that a country’s proportion of exportoriented new ventures, compared to its total number of new ventures, represents an outcome of knowledge spillovers (export spillovers) that stem from foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade, as well as a source of knowledge spillo...

The interrelationship between self-employment and unemployment has been the topic of many scientific investigations. The relation is of considerable policy importance as self-employment is seen as a route to escape unemployment. The relation is quite complex however as there are two directions of causality involved. On the one hand self-employment...

We estimate an extended version of the three-equation model of Carree, van Stel, Thurik and Wennekers (2002) where deviations from the 'equilibrium' rate of self-employment play a central role determining both the growth of self-employment and the rate of economic growth. In particular, we distinguish between solo self-employed and employer entrepr...

Globalization and an increasing importance of knowledge in the production process cause many developed countries to move from a more ‘managed’ to a more ‘entrepreneurial’ economy in recent decades. In the former type of economy, large and incumbent firms play a dominant role, exploiting economies of scale in a relatively certain economic environmen...