nep-ent New Economics Papers
on Entrepreneurship
Issue of 2023‒06‒19
seventeen papers chosen by
Marcus Dejardin
Université de Namur

  1. Bankruptcy recovery rate and small businesses' innovation By Luca Fare; Marcus Dejardin; Eric Toulemonde
  2. Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index: A new employment series for the US, Canada, and the UK By Akcigit, Ufuk; Chhina, Raman; Cilasun, Seyit Mümin; Miranda, Javier; Ocakverdi, Eren; Serrano-Velarde, Nicolas
  3. The Transfer of Federally Funded Technology: A Study of Small, Entrepreneurial, and Ambidextrous Firms By Guerrero, Maribel; Link, Albert; van Hasselt, Martijn
  4. Prior Work Experience and Entrepreneurship: The Careers of Young Entrepreneurs By Gendron-Carrier, Nicolas
  5. Estimating the Elasticity of Turnover from Bunching: Preferential Tax Regimes for Solo Self-employed in Italy By Francesco Alosa
  6. Do digitalization spurs SMEs’ participation in foreign markets? By Dolores Añon Higón; Juan A. Daniel Bonvin
  7. Corporate taxes, productivity, and business dynamism By Andrea Colciago; Vivien Lewis; Branka Matyska
  8. Unsecured Loans and Intangible Investment By OGURA Yoshiaki; UESUGI Iichiro; IWAKI Hiromichi
  9. Financial Constraints and Firm Size: Micro-Evidence and Aggregate Implications By Miguel Ferreira; Timo Haber; Christian Rorig
  10. Female unemployment, mobile money innovations and doing business by females By Simplice A. Asongu; Nicholas M. Odhiambo
  11. Strategies for Energy Management to Drive Green Entrepreneurship Growth in Agriculture By Saufillah, Zulfiyatus
  12. The role of financial inclusion in moderating the incidence of entrepreneurship on energy poverty in Ghana By Simplice A. Asongu; Nicholas M. Odhiambo
  13. Gründungen von Minderjährigen - Verbreitung und Charakteristika By Bijedić, Teita; Löher, Jonas; Schneck, Stefan; Suprinovič, Olga
  14. Hybride Selbstständigkeit im Erwerbsverlauf: Analysen anhand des Taxpayer-Panels 2001-2018 By Butkowski, Olivier K.; Kay, Rosemarie
  15. Samuel Biolley, “notre fameux fondeur” By Gay, Guido Benvenuto
  16. Grandeurs et misères de l’entrepreneur balzacien : une lecture croisée de "La Maison du Chat-qui-pelote" et de "César Birotteau" By Louis Azan
  17. The Romantic Conception of the Entrepreneur in Schumpeter’s Thought By Louis Azan

  1. By: Luca Fare; Marcus Dejardin; Eric Toulemonde (Development Finance and Public Policies, University of Namur)
    Abstract: Small businesses often face a high risk of bankruptcy and harsh financing conditions, which can hamper them to engage in innovation. This paper investigates whether a bankruptcy system that guarantees a good recovery rate for creditors in case of firms’ liquidation stimulates small businesses’ innovation investments through lower interest rates and therefore easier access to credit. With the help of a borrower-lender model we derive insights about the interactions between bankruptcy recovery rate, borrowing interest rates and firms’ investments in innovation. The model gives theoretical underpinnings for a subsequent empirical analysis. By using a cross-country sample of micro (1-9 employees)-, small (10-49 employees)-, and medium (50-249 employees)-sized enterprises (MSMEs), our study provides three main results. It shows that an increase in the bankruptcy recovery rate a) is positively associated to MSMEs’ investments in innovation (investment effect); b) reduces the share of MSMEs that are credit constrained because the cost of borrowing is too high (constraint effect); c) reduces the interest rates dispersion for high profitable MSMEs (dispersion effect). Overall, our findings suggest that improving creditors recovery rate can help promoting the innovative behaviour of small businesses through easier financing conditions.
    Date: 2023–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nam:defipp:2302&r=ent
  2. By: Akcigit, Ufuk; Chhina, Raman; Cilasun, Seyit Mümin; Miranda, Javier; Ocakverdi, Eren; Serrano-Velarde, Nicolas
    Abstract: Small and young businesses are essential for job creation, innovation, and economic growth. Even most of the superstar firms start their business life small and then grow over time. Small firms have less internal resources, which makes them more fragile and sensitive to macroeconomic conditions. This suggests the need for frequent and real-time monitoring of the small business sector's health. Previously this was difficult due to a lack of appropriate data. This paper fills this important gap by developing a new Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index that focuses on the smallest of small businesses with at most 9 workers in the US and the UK and at most 19 workers in Canada. The Index aggregates a sample of anonymous QuickBooks Online Payroll subscriber data (QBO Payroll sample) from 333, 000 businesses in the US, 66, 000 in Canada, and 25, 000 in the UK. After comparing the QBO Payroll sample data to the official statistics, we remove the seasonal components and use a Flexible Least Squares method to calibrate the QBO Payroll sample data against official statistics. Finally, we use the estimated model and the QBO Payroll sample data to generate a near real-time index of economic activity. We show that the estimated model performs well both in-sample and out-of-sample. Additionally, we use this analysis for different regions and industries.
    Keywords: employment, entrepreneurship, index, job creation, small businesses, turnover
    JEL: J23 J63 O47
    Date: 2023
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:92023&r=ent
  3. By: Guerrero, Maribel (Arizona State University); Link, Albert (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics); van Hasselt, Martijn (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics)
    Abstract: In this paper, we study the technology transfer mechanisms used to protect intellectual property by small, entrepreneurial firms that received Phase II research awards from the U.S Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The technology transfer mechanisms considered are patenting and publishing. Controlling for the agencies that funded the Phase II research (DOD and NIH), we find that the presence of a university as a research partner engenders greater patenting and publishing. We also find that minority-owned firms patent more intensely than do other firms. A portion of the firms patent and publish; we define these firms, based on our advanced review of the literature, to be ambidextrous. Ambidextrous firms are more likely to include a university as a research partner, to be male-owned and minority-owned, and to be relatively small. Our findings represent a new and important advancement to the literature.
    Keywords: SBIR program; technology transfer; patenting; publishing; intellectual property; ambidexterity; entrepreneurial firms; program evaluation;
    JEL: L21 L26 O34 O38
    Date: 2023–05–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:uncgec:2023_003&r=ent
  4. By: Gendron-Carrier, Nicolas (McGill University)
    Abstract: I investigate the mechanisms that drive sorting into entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial success among young individuals. I use Canadian matched owner-employeremployee data to conduct my investigation. Empirically, older entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs who have previously worked in high-wage firms tend to do better. To explain these findings, I develop a dynamic Roy model of career choice that features heterogeneous employers, human capital accumulation, and unobserved heterogeneity across individuals. Among other things, I find that prior work experience is particularly valuable for "subsistence" entrepreneurs. I use the estimated model to evaluate policies designed to promote entrepreneurship.
    Keywords: entrepreneurship, human capital, firm heterogeneity, career choice, dynamic Roy model, unobserved heterogeneity
    JEL: J24 J31 J62 L26
    Date: 2023–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16145&r=ent
  5. By: Francesco Alosa
    Abstract: Turnover is a key indicator of economic activity, but we know little about how much entrepreneurs adjust it as a response to taxation. This is because business taxation is usually based on profits, rather than turnover. This paper exploits the notch created by the eligibility cut-off of the preferential (turnover) tax regime for solo self-employed in Italy to study turnover responses to taxation. I find that solo self-employed bunch below the turnover threshold to be eligible for the preferential scheme. Effects are different in different sectors, with professionals and business intermediaries showing the largest responses. Then, I estimate the turnover tax elasticity by focusing on the (last) marginal buncher. To do so, I adapt the models of Kleven and Waseem (2013) and Harju et al. (2019) to derive a modified indifference condition that fits the institutional set-up. The baseline estimate for the turnover tax elasticity is 0.072.
    JEL: H24 H25 H26
    Date: 2023–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp1186&r=ent
  6. By: Dolores Añon Higón (Department of Applied Economics II and ERI-CES, Faculty of Economics, Universitat de València, Avda. Tarongers, s/n, 46022 Valencia (Spain).); Juan A. Daniel Bonvin (Department of Applied Economics II, Faculty of Economics, Universitat de València, Avda. Tarongers, s/n, 46022 Valencia (Spain).)
    Abstract: This study aims to empirically examine the impact of the digital transformation on the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in export and import activities. In this regard, empirical evidence at the firm level is very limited. Using a representative panel of Spanish SMEs from 2001 to 2014, we contribute to the literature by constructing a multidimensional index of digitization at the firm level and estimating a set of dynamic models analyzing the direct and indirect (via total factor productivity) effects of the digital transformation on SMEs’ export and import strategies. Overall, our results show that firm decisions to export and import are simultaneously determined. Moreover, the firms’ degree of digitalization positively influences the probability to export and import, both directly and indirectly through TFP. The direct effect seems to be larger for exports than for imports, while the opposite seems true for the indirect effect.
    Keywords: Exports, Imports, Digital transformation, SMEs, Productivity.
    JEL: D22 D24 F14 O33
    Date: 2023–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:2307&r=ent
  7. By: Andrea Colciago; Vivien Lewis; Branka Matyska
    Abstract: We identify the effects of corporate income tax shocks on key US macroeconomic aggregates. In response to a corporate income tax cut, we find that: (i) labor productivity increases; (ii) entry increases with delay; (iii) exit increases; (iv) total labor increases by more than production labor. To rationalize these empirical findings, we build a New Keynesian model with idiosyncratic firm productivity, and entry and exit. Our model features productivity gains due to selection and cleansing along the entry and exit margins. Models with homogeneous firms fail to account for the selection and cleansing process and produce counterfactual results.
    Keywords: corporate taxation, productivity, firm entry and exit.
    JEL: E62 E32 H25
    Date: 2023–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mib:wpaper:512&r=ent
  8. By: OGURA Yoshiaki; UESUGI Iichiro; IWAKI Hiromichi
    Abstract: In 2008, a government policy bank in Japan expanded its provision of unsecured loans, with many small and medium-sized enterprises subsequently switching from secured to unsecured loans. In this paper, we examine the determinants of firm choice and impacts of these unsecured loans to better understand the distortional effects of any collateral constraints that previously existed in the Japanese economy. Using propensity score matching analysis and instrumental variable regression, we reveal the following. First, younger and growing firms with fewer tangible assets use unsecured loans more intensively. Second, firms choosing unsecured loans increase their investment in intangible assets, including organizational capital. Third, unsecured loan users grew faster than secured loan users, although their credit ratings also deteriorated to some extent. Lastly, the impact of unsecured loans on firm productivity is neutral. Overall, the intrafirm asset reallocation from tangible to intangible assets among unsecured loan users highlights the distortionary effects of collateral constraints.
    Date: 2023–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:23034&r=ent
  9. By: Miguel Ferreira; Timo Haber; Christian Rorig
    Abstract: Using a unique dataset covering the universe of Portuguese firms and their credit situation we show that financially constrained firms are found across the entire firmsize distribution, even in the top 1%. Incorporating a richer, empirically supported, productivity process into a standard heterogeneous firms model generates a joint distribution of size and credit constraints in line with the data. The presence of large constrained firms in the economy, together with their elevated capital share, explains about 66% of the response of output to a financial shock. We conclude by providing microevidence in support of themodel mechanism.
    Keywords: Firmsize; business cycle; financial accelerator
    JEL: E62 E22 E23
    Date: 2023–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:777&r=ent
  10. By: Simplice A. Asongu (Yaounde, Cameroon); Nicholas M. Odhiambo (Pretoria, South Africa)
    Abstract: The purpose of this study is to complement extant literature by examining how mobile money innovations can moderate the unfavorable incidence of female unemployment on female doing of business in 44 countries from sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2004 to 2018. The empirical evidence is based on interactive quantile regressions. The employed doing business constraints are the procedures a woman has to go through to start a business and the time for women to set up a business, while the engaged mobile money innovations are: (i) registered mobile money agents (registered mobile money agents per 1000 km2 and registered mobile money agents per 100 000 adults) and (ii) active mobile money agents (active mobile money agents per 1000 km2 and active mobile money agents per 100 000 adults). The hypothesis that mobile money innovation moderates the unfavorable incidence of female unemployment on business constraints is overwhelmingly invalid. The invalidity of the tested hypothesis is clarified, and the policy implications are discussed.
    Keywords: Mobile phones; financial inclusion; women; doing business; sub-Saharan Africa
    JEL: G20 O40 I10 I20 I32
    Date: 2023–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:23/033&r=ent
  11. By: Saufillah, Zulfiyatus
    Abstract: Energy management is critical to achieving sustainable agriculture development and reducing environmental impacts. The strategies for energy management discussed in this essay, including energy efficiency measures, energy management systems, and green financing, can help drive green entrepreneurship growth in the agriculture sector. Implementing these strategies can help green entrepreneurs reduce energy consumption and costs, improve productivity, promote sustainable development, and create new growth opportunities. Therefore, policymakers, investors, and other stakeholders should work together to support the implementation of these strategies in the agriculture sector.
    Date: 2023–05–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:5qcwr&r=ent
  12. By: Simplice A. Asongu (Yaounde, Cameroon); Nicholas M. Odhiambo (Pretoria, South Africa)
    Abstract: This paper assesses the role of financial inclusion in moderating the incidence of entrepreneurship on energy poverty in Ghana. The assessment is made by using pooled data and two stage least squares. The exposition builds from the 7th (GLSS7) and 6th (GLSS6) rounds focusing on the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GSS, 2014, 2019) that is collected by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) from ten principal regions in the country. The findings show that entrepreneurship has an unconditional positive incidence on energy poverty while the interactive incidence between entrepreneurship and financial inclusion on energy poverty is negative. The corresponding financial inclusion policy thresholds that should be exceeded in order for financial inclusion to effectively moderate entrepreneurship for negative outcomes in energy poverty: (i) are between 0.154 and 0.280 index for the full sample; (ii) is between 0.187 index for the rural sub-sample; (iii) are between 0.200 and 0.333 index for the male sample. (iv) Thresholds are not computed for the rural and female sub-samples because at least one estimated coefficient that is needed for the computation of such thresholds is not significant. Policy implications are discussed. This study has complemented the existing literature by assessing how financial inclusion can be employed to influence the nexus between entrepreneurship and poverty in Ghana.
    Keywords: Energy poverty; Financial inclusion; Consumption poverty; Education; Household income
    JEL: D03 D12 D14 I32 Q41
    Date: 2023–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:exs:wpaper:23/035&r=ent
  13. By: Bijedić, Teita; Löher, Jonas; Schneck, Stefan; Suprinovič, Olga
    Abstract: Diese explorative Studie beleuchtet erstmals auf Basis des Taxpayer-Panels sowie selbst erhobener Daten die unternehmerische Selbstständigkeit von Minderjährigen. Es zeigt sich, dass es sich um ein Randphänomen handelt: Schätzungsweise 290 bis 610 Minderjährige realisieren jährlich eine Gründung. Sie erzielen i.d.R. geringfügige Einkünfte, ihre Gründungen haben somit Nebenerwerbscharakter und sind häufig im Bereich internetbasierter Dienstleistungen angesiedelt. Die Gründung dient vor allem dem Ausprobieren, dem Kompetenzerwerb und der persönlichen Weiterentwicklung. Die im Elternhaus vermittelten Werte befördern den Schritt in die Selbstständigkeit, für die Umsetzung sind zudem Mentoren und Vorbilder bedeutsam. Institutionelle Einflüsse (Behörden, Schule) wirken eher entmutigend. Das gilt insbesondere für das Ermächtigungsverfahren am Familiengericht. Von einer Standardisierung des Verfahrens würden alle involvierten Akteure profitieren.
    Keywords: Selbstständigkeit, Gründungen, Minderjährige, Deutschland, Self-employment, start-ups, minors, teenpreneurs, Germany
    JEL: A21 J19 L26
    Date: 2023
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifmmat:298&r=ent
  14. By: Butkowski, Olivier K.; Kay, Rosemarie
    Abstract: Mit der wachsenden Anzahl hybrider Selbstständiger verbindet sich aus sozialpolitischer Sicht die Sorge, dass sich bei ihnen Lücken in der Altersvorsorge auftun könnten. Allerdings sind hybride Erwerbsepisoden zumeist von kurzer Dauer, wenngleich sie häufig mehrfach im Erwerbsverlauf auftreten. Nur für eine Minderheit stellt die hybride Selbstständigkeit einen dauerhafter Erwerbsstatus dar. Welche Rolle die hybride Selbstständigkeit in der Erwerbsbiografiespielt, hängt von einer Reihe von soziodemografischen Merkmalen ab, weniger jedoch vom Geschlecht. In der Zusammenschau mit der Einkommenshöhe gibt die Analyse der erwerbsbiografischen Verläufe keine Hinweise darauf, dass aufgrund der hybriden Selbstständigkeit an sich besondere Probleme in der Altersvorsorge der hybriden Selbstständigen zu erwarten sind.
    Keywords: Hybride Selbstständige, Erwerbsverlauf, Altersvorsorge, Taxpayer-Panel, Hybrid self-employed, employment history, retirement provisions, taxpayer panel
    JEL: L26 M13 H55
    Date: 2023
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifmduf:33&r=ent
  15. By: Gay, Guido Benvenuto
    Abstract: This contribution analyzes the working and family life of Samuel Biolley – born in Neuchâtel in 1787, moved to Lyon at the beginning of 1807, settled permanently in Turin in the spring of 1814 where he died in 1863. He is a man of his time: entrepreneur, innovator, able to move in space and to change activities, to seize favorable opportunities. The examination of his memoirs and documents related to his activities allowed us to provide some additional information on Gensoul's steam apparatus for silk filatures, an important technical innovation that had a substantial diffusion in the silk industry in pre-unification Piedmont, but also to highlight a collaborative process with his brother-in-law Henri Decker.
    Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Networks, Neuchâtel, Lyon, Turin
    JEL: N83 N93
    Date: 2023–05–19
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:117360&r=ent
  16. By: Louis Azan (LEFMI - Laboratoire d’Économie, Finance, Management et Innovation - UR UPJV 4286 - UPJV - Université de Picardie Jules Verne)
    Abstract: In the early 19th century, the entrepreneur became a major figure, both in economics and in literature. He is to be found in the analyses of economists (Cantillon, Smith and Jean-Baptiste Say), as well as in the novels and short stories of writers, in particular Balzac, who gives a special place to money and commerce in his work. This article explores the representation of the entrepreneur in a novel and a short story (César Birotteau and La Maison du Chat-qui-pelote) by the author of the Comédie Humaine, and seeks to draw a dialogue between economics and literature, in order to sketch the place of the Balzacien entrepreneur in the history of economic thought.
    Abstract: L'entrepreneur devient au début du XIXème siècle une figure majeure, à la fois sur le plan économique et sur le plan littéraire. On le retrouve ainsi dans les analyses des économistes (chez Cantillon, Smith ou encore Jean-Baptiste Say), ainsi que dans les romans et nouvelles des écrivains, en particulier chez Balzac, qui fait dans son oeuvre une place toute particulière à l'argent et au commerce. Le présent article explore la représentation de l'entrepreneur que donne à voir l'auteur de La Comédie Humaine, dans un roman et une nouvelle (César Birotteau et La Maison du Chat-qui-pelote), et cherche à tracer un dialogue entre économie et littérature afin d'esquisser la place de l'entrepreneur balzacien dans l'histoire de la pensée économique.
    Keywords: Economic Theory, Literary Theory, History of Economic Thought, Entrepreneur, Théorie économique, Théorie littéraire, Balzac, Histoire de la pensée économique
    Date: 2023–04–28
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-04084476&r=ent
  17. By: Louis Azan (LEFMI - Laboratoire d’Économie, Finance, Management et Innovation - UR UPJV 4286 - UPJV - Université de Picardie Jules Verne)
    Abstract: The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that the figure of the Schumpeterian entrepreneur is deeply marked by a Romantic imagination, critical of Utilitarianism. Schumpeter constructs the entrepreneur as a creative and dynamic agent, who succeeds in creating something radically new by the force of his will and his freedom of spirit, thus destroying the existing equilibrium. He is not a rational economic agent, a homo oeconomicus, but a romantic man who uses imagination and intuition in his actions. Like the Romantic authors, the Austrian economist puts forward the idea that economic life is marked by an incessant flow of innovations, destroying the old so that the new may emerge. Moreover, the decline of the entrepreneurial function is interpreted by Schumpeter from a romantic perspective, with the idea that capitalist modernity is a force for the rationalization of the world and the routinization of human existence, which no longer allows entrepreneurs to deploy their creative energy.
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-04084445&r=ent

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