Determinants of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Activity: A Two-Stage Regression Analysis

We developed a theoretical model of state-level entrepreneurship activity, as measured independently by firm creation, patent applications and presence of 500Inc. firms. We estimated the roles of innovations, financial capital, state resources and entrepreneurial climate. The empirical results suggest all of these factors are important in explaining some measure of entrepreneurial activity. Most importantly, we find that there is no single set of variables most important in explaining the three different measures of entrepreneurial activity used in this analysis, that is, with the exception of entrepreneurial climate. The parameter estimate for entrepreneurial climate was significantly different from zero for all the measures of entrepreneurial activity used.