Labor Regulations and European Venture Capital

European nations substitute between employment protection regulations and labor market expenditures (e.g., unemployment insurance benefits) for providing worker insurance. Employment regulations more directly tax firms making frequent labor adjustments than other labor market insurance mechanisms. Venture capital investors are especially sensitive to these labor adjustment costs. Nations favoring labor market expenditures as the mechanism for providing worker insurance developed stronger venture capital markets over 1990–2008, especially in high volatility sectors. In this context, policy mechanisms are more important than the overall level of worker insurance

Labor Regulations and European Private Equity

European nations substitute between employment protection regulations and labor market expenditures (e.g., unemployment insurance benefits) for providing worker insurance. Employment regulations more directly tax firms making frequent labor adjustments than other labor insurance mechanisms. Venture capital and private equity investors are especially sensitive to these labor adjustment costs. Nations favoring labor expenditures as the mechanism for providing worker insurance developed stronger private equity markets in high volatility sectors over 1990-2004. These patterns are further evident in US investments into Europe. In this context, policy mechanisms are more important than the overall insurance level provided.

Surveying Technology-Based Small Firms: A Perspective From Belgium

This paper details a survey methodology on technology-based small firms (TBSF) in Belgium. The survey's objective is to better understand the factors underlying the creation and development of firms with high growth potentials. In this respect it focuses on the socio-economic factors associated with the entrepreneurs, on the national framework conditions affecting entrepreneurship and on the financial architecture of the firms. The survey data of 103 TBSFs shows that 82 percent of entrepreneurs finance their firms with their own personal savings at seed stage. The debt-financing funds mostly in the form of government subsidies of all kind and commercial bank loans are the secondary source of finance and together constitute the biggest portion of total external finance. 26 percent of these firms had at start-up stage been recipient of venture capital funds and 20 percent of "angel" funds. There is also evidence that as firms get older the proportion of internal finance decreases while external finance first increases at start-up, peaks at early growth, and gradually decreases at later stages of development. Several strengths and weaknesses of the Belgian framework conditions for entrepreneurship are identified. The results also allow to better understand the key socio-cultural determinants of entrepreneurs themselves. 97 percent of technology-based small firm entrepreneurs are male. Over 80 percent of entrepreneurs in the survey have a university degree and 42 percent hold post-graduate degrees. We briefly discuss these findings in light of existing literature.technology-based small firms, entrepreneurship, start-up financing, survey data

Essays in entrepreneurial finance

This thesis aims to better understand the process of the funding of young innovativeventures, and how a deeper understanding of this process can help public policy to betterstimulate entrepreneurial firms—especially in high-technology industries. I interpretentrepreneurial finance broadly to mean financing issues facing young innovativeventures. It includes three essays which deal with a set of economic, institutional, andpublic policy issues to examine entrepreneurial finance.Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe

Essays in entrepreneurial finance

This thesis aims to better understand the process of the funding of young innovativeventures, and how a deeper understanding of this process can help public policy to betterstimulate entrepreneurial firms—especially in high-technology industries. I interpretentrepreneurial finance broadly to mean financing issues facing young innovativeventures. It includes three essays which deal with a set of economic, institutional, andpublic policy issues to examine entrepreneurial finance.Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe

Labor Regulations and European Private Equity

European nations substitute between employment protection regulations and labor market expenditures (e.g. unemployment insurance benefits) for providing worker insurance. Employment regulations more directly tax firms making frequent labor adjustments than other labor insurance mechanisms. Venture capital and private equity investors are especially sensitive to these labor adjustment costs. Nations favoring labor expenditures as the mechanism for providing worker insurance developed stronger private equity markets in high volatility sectors over 1990-2004. These patterns are further evident in US investments into Europe. In this context, policy mechanisms are more important than the overall insurance level provided.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Who Funds Technology-Based Small Firms? Evidence from Belgium

Using an original survey sample of 103 unquoted Belgian technology-based small firms (TBSFs), we examine the capital structure of start-up companies during their consecutive development stages. We find that internal funds, either alone as personal savings or in combination with family and friends, to be the primary source of financing. Personal funds of the founders are used to finance the start of 82 percent of TBSFs. Commercial bank and government funds are the most important sources of external finance for TBSFs subsequent to start-up. Most founders agreed that business angels and venture capitalists play a greater role at later stages. However, once granted, more substantial amounts of funding come from venture capitalists. There is also evidence that suggests an evolution in the mix of internal and external sources of finance. Finally, our findings based on founders’ scores in raising external funds suggest a call for urgent policy action to improve access to and availability of early-stage entrepreneurial finance in Belgium. We discuss our findings in light of the capital structure of small firms relating to TBSFs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

The financial architecture of technology-based small firms: an explorative study

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Who funds technology-based small firms? Evidence from Belgium

info:eu-repo/semantics/inPres