Starttid:
2024-11-12 at 12:00
Sluttid:
2024-11-12 at 13:30
Plats:
On-site at the Stockholm School of Economics. Registration required.
Paper title and abstract
Did COVID close the start-up deficit in Black neighborhoods? Evidence from the Startup Cartography Project
Abstract: Leveraging data from ten U.S. states from the Startup Cartography Project, this paper considers the changing nature and geography of entrepreneurship, examining whether COVID closed the longstanding deficit in the rate of start-up formation within Black neighborhoods. Focusing on 2011 through 2023, we explore the relative change in the rate of start-ups in Black neighborhoods versus others over time. We first document a sizeable deficit during the first four years of this period, followed by a steady but incremental narrowing of the Black neighborhood start-up deficit. We then observe, in the wake of the onset of COVID, a sizeable and immediate jump in the overall rate of new firm formation, and find this unprecedented boom is particularly concentrated in Black neighborhoods. While the Black neighborhood entrepreneurship rate remains elevated through the end of 2021, there is a convergence towards the population incidence by the end of 2023. We examine a range of potential explanations and confounders to explain this changing geography of entrepreneurship. There are no sizeable policy changes (e.g., tax incentives or the details of COVID relief packages) that would particularly favor business formation in Black neighborhoods, nor do contemporaneous changes (e.g., in gentrification by income or race) account for the phenomena. We do, however, note that the initial surge in entrepreneurship was coincident with increased support for Black-owned businesses in connection with the Black Lives Matter Movement, and explore, in a preliminary fashion, whether the names of registered businesses reflect a perception of increased entrepreneurial opportunity by Black founders to pursue ventures in the emerging “Passion Economy.”
About Scott Stern
Scott Stern is the David Sarnoff Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Stern explores how innovation and entrepreneurship differ from more traditional economic activities, and the consequences of these differences for strategy and policy. His research in the economics of innovation and entrepreneurship focuses on entrepreneurial strategy, innovation-driven entrepreneurial ecosystems, and innovation policy and management. Recent studies include the impact of clusters on entrepreneurship, the role of institutions in shaping the accumulation of scientific and technical knowledge, and the drivers and consequences of entrepreneurial strategy. Stern has worked widely with practitioners in bridging the gap between academic research and the practice of innovation and entrepreneurship. This includes advising start-ups and other growth firms in the area of entrepreneurial strategy, as well as working with governments and other stakeholders on policy issues related to competitiveness and regional performance. In recent years, Stern has developed a popular new MIT Sloan elective, Entrepreneurial Strategy, co-founded the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program, advised the development of the Social Progress Index, and served as the lead MIT investigator on the US Cluster Mapping Project.