The present study explores the impact exerted by a series of factors and processes including creativity, IPR activities, new business formation and the provision of amenities on economic growth for 103 Italian provinces (NUTS 3) over the period between 2001 and 2006. Provincial growth rates are...

This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between self-employment and unem-ployment rates. On the one hand, high unemployment rates may lead to start-up activity of self-employed individuals (the "refugee" effect). On the other hand, higher rates of self-employment may indicate increased...

The COVID-19 pandemic severely affected not only incumbent firms, but also the emergence of start-ups. This paper investigates and analyzes the pandemic's effect on new business formation, as well as business exits and insolvencies, in Germany. We find that the overall level of business...

We describe and analyze the long-term development of self-employment in German regions between 1895 and 2019. Based on rankings ("league tables") for the two years we identify those regions where the relative level of self-employment significantly increased ('leapfroggers'), and those where the...

This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between self-employment and unemployment rates. On the one hand, high unemployment rates may lead to start-up activity of self-employed individuals (the "refugee" effect). On the other hand, higher rates of self-employment may indicate increased...