The Geography and Determinantsof Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship literature (Parker 2004) has rarely considered spatial locationas a micro-determinant of occupational choice, although there are compellingreasons to posit that spatial location influences economic behavior. Using Bayesiansemiparametric methodologies and geoadditive techniques, we examine spatiallocation as a micro-determinant of self-employment choice of Indians, in addition tostandard determinants such as age, gender and education. The empirical analysissuggests the presence of spatial occupational neighborhoods and a clear north-southdivide in self-employment choice in India when individuals of agricultural andnonagricultural sectors are considered together; however, such spatial patterns areless pronounced when individuals in nonagriculture alone are considered in theanalysis. These residual spatial patterns are found to be inversely related to theper-capita GDP of the region. The results further suggest nonlinear relationshipsbetween age, wealth and the probability of self-employment...<br<