High-Technology Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley

The economic expansion of the late 1990s created many opportunities for business creation in Silicon Valley, but the opportunity cost of starting a business was also high during this period because of the exceptionally tight labor market. A new measure of entrepreneurship derived from matching files from the Current Population Survey (CPS) is used to provide the first test of the hypothesis that business creation rates were high in Silicon Valley during the "Roaring 90s." Unlike previous measures of firm births based on large, nationally representative datasets, the new measure captures business creation at the individual-owner level, includes both employer and non-employer business starts, and focuses on only hi-tech industries. Estimates indicate that hi-tech entrepreneurship rates were lower in Silicon Valley than the rest of the United States during the period from January 1996 to February 2000. Examining the post-boom period, we find that entrepreneurship rates in Silicon Valley increased from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. Although Silicon Valley may be an entrepreneurial location overall, we provide the first evidence that the extremely tight labor market of the late 1990s, especially in hi-tech industries, may have suppressed business creation during this period.entrepreneurship, high-technology, Silicon Valley, economic geography, regional clusters

High-Technology Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley Opportunities andOpportunity Costs

The economic expansion of the late 1990s undoubtedly created many opportunities for business creation in Silicon Valley, but the opportunity cost of starting a business was also high during this period because of the exceptionally tight labor market. A new measure of entrepreneurship derived from matching monthly files from the Current Population Survey (CPS) is used to provide the first test of the hypothesis that entrepreneurship rates were high in Silicon Valley during the 'Roaring 90s.' Unlike previous measures of firm births based on large, nationally representative datasets, the new measure captures business creation at the individual-owner level, includes both employer and non-employer business starts, and focuses on only hi-tech industries. Estimates from the matched CPS data indicate that hi-tech entrepreneurship rates were lower in Silicon Valley than the rest of the United States during the period from January 1996 to February 2000. Controlling for the large concentration of immigrants and highlyeducated workforce does not change the conclusion. Examining the post-boom period, we find that entrepreneurship rates in Silicon Valley increased from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. In contrast, trends in entrepreneurship rates in the United States were constant over this period. Although Silicon Valley may be an entrepreneurial location overall, the extremely tight labor market of the late 1990s, especially in hi-tech industries, may have suppressed business creation during this period

Do CEO Activists Make a Difference? Evidence from a Field Experiment

Several CEOs are receiving significant media attention for taking public positions on controversial social and environmental issues largely unrelated to their core business, ranging from gay marriage to climate change to gender equality. We provide the first evidence that such “CEO activism” can influence public opinion and consumer attitudes. Our field experiment examines the impact of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s public statements opposing a pending religious freedom law that critics warned would allow discrimination against same-sex couples. Our results confirm the influence of issue framing on public opinion and suggest that CEOs can sway public opinion, and potentially to the same extent as prominent politicians. Moreover, Cook’s CEO activism increased consumer intentions to purchase Apple products, especially among proponents of same-sex marriage