This paper investigates whether a particular type of historical entrepreneurship is conducive to the persistence of start-ups in high-technology sectors in Italian provinces. We argue that the historical propensity of entrepreneurship towards change may be an aspect of local culture capable of stimulating innovative entrepreneurship. In particular, we focus on the share of entrepreneurs using motive power (our proxy of historical openness to technological change) and on the share of female entrepreneurs and female employees (our proxy of historical openness to social change) as predictors of entrepreneurship rates in high-tech sectors today. We also argue that entrepreneurship needs to build on the regional knowledge base to sustain the birth and persistence of innovative start-ups.  We find that the local presence of universities positively moderates the impact of openness to change in HTM entrepreneurship.

Read the paper