12 research outputs found

    Digital Vapor Trails: Using Website Behavior to Nowcast Entrepreneurial Activity

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    [EN] Following recent research, we explore virtually contemporaneous, and geographically granular, user online activity related to entrepreneurship. In this paper, we present evidence that data harvested by Dstillery can complement efforts of, and data collected by, government agencies and organizations advocating for entrepreneurship, business formation and economic growth, e.g., the Kauffman Foundation. Our website-based behavior data is close to real time and at a geographically granular level. We find that the concentration of a region’s visits to website resources for entrepreneurship and business development are statistically related to business start-up and, particularly, growth activity. Visits to websites related to entrepreneurship are more strongly associated with growth entrepreneurship, in contrast to start-up entrepreneurship. While data capture and analysis related to entrepreneurship website activity is in its infancy, this analysis points to the potential of this data source to nowcast business formation and growth at a regional level.Slaper, T.; Bianco, A.; Lenz, P. (2018). Digital Vapor Trails: Using Website Behavior to Nowcast Entrepreneurial Activity. En 2nd International Conference on Advanced Reserach Methods and Analytics (CARMA 2018). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 107-113. https://doi.org/10.4995/CARMA2018.2018.8327OCS10711

    Third Places and Art Spaces: Using Web Activity to Differentiate Cultural Dimensions of Entrepreneurship Across U.S. Regions

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    [EN] We use unconventional, web-based user data to assess regional entrepreneurial activity and regional variations in characteristics and culture that drive differences in business formation. Using geographically granular, user-online activity to estimate a region’s proclivity for entrepreneurship, we assess the statistical relationship between business formation, operationalized as establishment births, and a region’s general interest in “third places” – informal gathering and mixing locations – and websites related to arts, music and design – “arts spaces.” We operationalize interest in, or intention to patronize, third places and arts spaces by individuals within a geographical unit of analysis (U.S. counties) who access website information and resources related to those third places. Controlling for regional interest in entrepreneurship related web resources, we find that interest in third places and art spaces is strongly associated with regional variation in business formation. This work corroborates research showing that regions with a high concentration of interest (and participation) in third places and art spaces may attract the attention of would be entrepreneurs as desirable places to live, work and explore business opportunities, and help identify and address a critical missing ingredient in regions that have lower rates of start-ups and business growth.Slaper, T.; Bianco, A.; Lenz, P. (2020). Third Places and Art Spaces: Using Web Activity to Differentiate Cultural Dimensions of Entrepreneurship Across U.S. Regions. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/CARMA2020.2020.11638OCS23924

    Are the problem spaces of economic actors increasingly virtual? What geo-located web activity might tell us about economic dynamism.

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    The principal questions this research will address are: 1) whether a higher propensity to visit websites of interest to actual or nascent entrepreneurs is associated with higher rates of new firms births in an area; 2) whether a higher propensity to visit websites of interest to those working on design problems is associated with the quality of business in terms of orientations toward design or innovation; and 3) whether a higher propensity to visit websites of interest to those pursuing arts as an avocation is associated with an increased ability to find nonobvious solutions that might be manifest in business quality. The unique data that allow examining these questions were compiled from billions of web hits by geo-located devices. These data are combined with both detailed establishment level data with reliable information on the innovation and design orientation of firms, and a longitudinal census of all establishments with a formal credit relationship in the U.S. The findings confirm that businesses located in areas with a high propensity to visit design and arts avocation websites are more likely to pursue more far ranging innovation and are more likely to integrate design into their innovation processes. Firm birth rates are higher in areas with a high propensity to visit websites of interest to entrepreneurs, and the existence of high growth firms is strongly associated with demonstrated interest in design and arts avocation websites. The possible uses of these nontraditional measures as indicators of economic dynamism are discussed

    Sources of Innovation and Innovation Type: Firm-Level Evidence from the United States

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    10.1093/icc/dtz010Industrial and Corporate Change2861365–137

    The Index of Innovation: A New Tool for Regional Analysis

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    Attempts to create an index of innovation have focused almost exclusively on countries or states. These existing indices also weigh various drivers of innovation equally without regard to their relative effect on economic development. This article has two distinct parts. In Part I the authors develop an index of innovation at the county level. They describe the rationale for selecting innovation measures based on the literature. This section goes into detail about measures and data. Part II statistically analyzes the data for all U.S. counties to assess the relative importance of the innovation factors on GDP-per-worker growth. The researchers also investigate whether the relative importance of the drivers of innovation differ depending on county scale and other characteristics that are often used to differentiate rural from urban. Initial analysis suggests that innovation influences can vary depending on the size of the county and the rural-urban divide.economic growth; innovation; U.S. counties; regional analysis
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