Entrepreneurship in a Regional Context: Historical Roots, Recent Developments and Future Challenges

F<sc>ritsch</sc> M. and S<sc>torey</sc> D. J. Entrepreneurship in a regional context: historical roots, recent developments and future challenges, <italic>Regional Studies</italic>. This paper reviews research on regional new business formation published in four special issues of <italic>Regional Studies</italic> over a period of 30 years. It is observed that over those decades there has been a heightened recognition of the role of both formal institutions and 'soft' factors such as social capital and a culture of entrepreneurship. However, the core challenge is to explain why, in several high-income countries, despite these claimed cultural changes, the relative position of regions with regard to new business formation exhibits little or no variation over long periods of time.