The effect of entrepreneurship on economic development—an empirical analysis using regional entrepreneurship culture

We use the historical self-employment rate as an indicator of a regional culture of entrepreneurship and take it as an instrument to analyze the effect of entrepreneurship on economic growth in recent periods. The results indicate that German regions with a high level of entrepreneurship in the mid-1920s have higher start-up rates about 50 years later. Thus, a regional culture of entrepreneurship is an important resource for the persistence of entrepreneurship. Furthermore, we find that there is a significant effect of start-up activity on regional employment growth when using entrepreneurship culture as instrument for start-up activity.