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Demographic change and entrepreneurship across regions

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This paper studies the relationship between demographic change and entrepreneurship and highlights its spatial dimension. We digitise historical censuses to reconstruct entrepreneurship rates and the age structure of Italian provinces since the 1960s. We develop an estimation framework that relates entrepreneurship to granular age cohorts of the local population, leveraging instrumental variables to address endogeneity issues. Our results uncover stark regional heterogeneity. In Northern Italy, we find a hump-shaped age–entrepreneurship profile peaking at cohorts aged 30–39 years. In the South, entrepreneurship increases with age. Regional differences in the local business environment partly account for the different estimated profiles.

Source: Figshare

DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.33340304

Authors: Federico Barbiellini Amidei, Matteo Gomellini, Lorenzo Incoronato, Paolo Piselli

Language: English

Topic: Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences

Subfield: Management of Technology and Innovation

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7204279217

FWCI:

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