The Impact of Geographic Differences in Human Capital on Service Firm Formation Rates

Zoltan Acs and Catherine Armington

Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy from Max Planck Institute of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group

Abstract: Although human capital externalities are a key variable in theories of economic growth, there has been little investigation of the mechanism by which these externalities are realized. We examine the relationship between the local levels of human capital and firm formation rates and find that formation rates differ with the share of adults with college degrees, especially for industries that normally require college-educated founders. They also differ strongly with the local concentration of existing establishments in the same sector, especially for industries serving non-local markets, suggesting that an important mechanism is the spillover of relevant knowledge.

Keywords: Firm formation; Knowledge spillovers; Entrepreneurship; Human capital; Regional growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 L80 M13 O3 R1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2004-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-geo and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (127)

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Related works:
Chapter: The Impact of Geographic Differences in Human Capital on Service Firm Formation Rates (2008)
Journal Article: The impact of geographic differences in human capital on service firm formation rates (2004)
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