IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/sbusec/v44y2015i2p219-230.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Infrastructure and entrepreneurship

Author

Listed:
  • David Audretsch
  • Diana Heger
  • Tobias Veith

Abstract

This paper is one of the first studies to examine the link between infrastructure and entrepreneurship. Because infrastructure can enhance connectivity and linkages that facilitate the recognition of entrepreneurial opportunities and the ability of entrepreneurs to actualize those opportunities, a hypothesis is developed suggesting that startup activity is enhanced by infrastructure. However, not all types of infrastructure have a homogeneous impact on the entrepreneurial decision, so that a second hypothesis is developed suggesting that certain types of infrastructure which facilitate connectivity and linkages among people are more conducive to startup activity. The empirical results suggest that startup activity is positively linked to infrastructure in general, but that certain specific types of infrastructure, such as broadband are more conducive to infrastructure than are highways and railroads. Finally, we hypothesize that the types of infrastructure have varying influences in different sectors. Our empirical analyses support this view and we conclude that particular infrastructure policies can be used to facilitate regional startup activities and, furthermore, to foster startup activities in desired industries. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • David Audretsch & Diana Heger & Tobias Veith, 2015. "Infrastructure and entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 219-230, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:44:y:2015:i:2:p:219-230
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-014-9600-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11187-014-9600-6
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11187-014-9600-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Fritsch & Oliver Falck, 2007. "New Business Formation by Industry over Space and Time: A Multidimensional Analysis," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(2), pages 157-172.
    2. David B. Audretsch & Max Keilbach, 2007. "The Theory of Knowledge Spillover Entrepreneurship," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(7), pages 1242-1254, November.
    3. Aschauer, David Alan, 1989. "Is public expenditure productive?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 177-200, March.
    4. Thurik, A. Roy & Carree, Martin A. & van Stel, André & Audretsch, David B., 2008. "Does self-employment reduce unemployment?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 673-686, November.
    5. Zoltán J. Ács & Pontus Braunerhjelm & David B. Audretsch & Bo Carlsson, 2015. "The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 7, pages 129-144, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Acs,Zoltan J. & Armington,Catherine, 2011. "Entrepreneurship, Geography, and American Economic Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107402539, September.
    7. Parker,Simon C., 2009. "The Economics of Entrepreneurship," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521728355, March.
    8. Glaeser, Edward L. & Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Strange, William C., 2010. "Urban economics and entrepreneurship," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 1-14, January.
    9. Sternberg, Rolf, 2009. "Regional Dimensions of Entrepreneurship," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 5(4), pages 211-340, May.
    10. Nina Czernich & Oliver Falck & Tobias Kretschmer & Ludger Woessmann, 2011. "Broadband Infrastructure and Economic Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(552), pages 505-532, May.
    11. Holt, Lynne & Jamison, Mark, 0. "Broadband and contributions to economic growth: Lessons from the US experience," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(10-11), pages 575-581, November.
    12. Lofstrom, Magnus & Bates, Timothy & Parker, Simon C., 2014. "Why are some people more likely to become small-businesses owners than others: Entrepreneurship entry and industry-specific barriers," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 232-251.
    13. Audretsch, David B. & Lehmann, Erik E., 2005. "Does the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship hold for regions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1191-1202, October.
    14. Fritsch, Michael, 2013. "New Business Formation and Regional Development: A Survey and Assessment of the Evidence," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 9(3), pages 249-364, February.
    15. Morrison, Catherine J & Schwartz, Amy Ellen, 1996. "State Infrastructure and Productive Performance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1095-1111, December.
    16. Maryann Feldman, 2014. "The character of innovative places: entrepreneurial strategy, economic development, and prosperity," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 9-20, June.
    17. David Canning & Peter Pedroni, 2008. "Infrastructure, Long‐Run Economic Growth And Causality Tests For Cointegrated Panels," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 76(5), pages 504-527, September.
    18. Parker,Simon C., 2009. "The Economics of Entrepreneurship," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521899604, March.
    19. Rolf Sternberg & Sander Wennekers, 2005. "Determinants and Effects of New Business Creation Using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Data," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 193-203, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bennett, Daniel L., 2019. "Infrastructure investments and entrepreneurial dynamism in the U.S," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 1-1.
    2. Hien Thu Tran & Enrico Santarelli, 2017. "Spatial heterogeneity, industry heterogeneity, and entrepreneurship," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 59(1), pages 69-100, July.
    3. Paul A. Coomes & Jose Fernandez & Stephan F. Gohmann, 2013. "The Rate of Proprietorship Among Metropolitan Areas: The Impact of the Local Economic Environment and Capital Resources," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 37(4), pages 745-770, July.
    4. David B. Audretsch & Dirk Dohse & Annekatrin Niebuhr, 2015. "Regional unemployment structure and new firm formation," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94, pages 115-138, November.
    5. David Audretsch & Maksim Belitski, 2013. "The missing pillar: the creativity theory of knowledge spillover entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 819-836, December.
    6. Leendertse, Jip & Schrijvers, Mirella & Stam, Erik, 2022. "Measure Twice, Cut Once: Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Metrics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(9).
    7. Roberta Capello & Camilla Lenzi, 2016. "Innovation modes and entrepreneurial behavioral characteristics in regional growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 875-893, December.
    8. Michael Fritsch & Ronney Aamoucke, 2013. "Regional public research, higher education, and innovative start-ups: an empirical investigation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 865-885, December.
    9. Erik Stam & Andrew Ven, 2021. "Entrepreneurial ecosystem elements," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 809-832, February.
    10. Rolf Sternberg, 2022. "Entrepreneurship and geography—some thoughts about a complex relationship," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 69(3), pages 559-584, December.
    11. Zoltán J. Ács & Pontus Braunerhjelm & David B. Audretsch & Bo Carlsson, 2015. "The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 7, pages 129-144, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Kuechle, Graciela, 2014. "Regional concentration of entrepreneurial activities," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 59-73.
    13. Jose Maria Millan & Emilio Congregado & Concepcion Roman & Mirjam van Praag & Andre van Stel, 2011. "The Value of an Educated Population for an Individual's Entrepreneurship Success," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 11-066/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 06 May 2014.
    14. F.C. Stam & Ben Spigel, 2016. "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems," Working Papers 16-13, Utrecht School of Economics.
    15. F.C. Stam & Andrew van de Ven, 2018. "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: A Systems Perspective," Working Papers 18-06, Utrecht School of Economics.
    16. Henley, Andrew, 2019. "Transitioning from Solo Self-Employed to Microbusiness Employer: Local Economic Environment or Owner Characteristics?," IZA Discussion Papers 12189, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Kim, Jungho & Kollmann, Trevor & Palangkaraya, Alfons & Webster, Elizabeth, 2022. "Does local technological specialisation, diversity and dynamic competition enhance firm creation?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(7).
    18. Gumus, Gulcin & Regan, Tracy L., 2015. "Self-employment and the role of health insurance in the U.S," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 357-374.
    19. Maksim Belitski & Sameeksha Desai, 2016. "What drives ICT clustering in European cities?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 430-450, June.
    20. Konon, Alexander & Fritsch, Michael & Kritikos, Alexander S., 2018. "Business cycles and start-ups across industries: An empirical analysis of German regions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 742-761.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entrepreneurship; Infrastructure; Startup; Economic policy; Economic development; L26;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:44:y:2015:i:2:p:219-230. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.