Entrepreneurship and the spatial context: evidence on the location of firm births in Greece

This paper analyses the effect of the spatial context upon entrepreneurship in Greek regions. Cross-sectional data referring to 4,151 births at NUTS III level (prefecture) are used for firm births in four industries. Results indicate that the spatial context of entrepreneurship affects different industries in different ways. Localization economies are the primary factor affecting the location of manufacturing and tourism births. Births in services and commerce seem to be the outcome of urbanization economies rather than the result of intra-industry concentration. Manufacturing and services are positively affected by state financial incentives promoting births at certain locations. Nonetheless, in the case of manufacturing, the effectiveness of such incentives is questioned by the presence of negative localization effects.