New Firm Creation in the United States ─ Initial Explorations With the PSED II Data Set

The study of firm creation is becoming a focal point of business research, education, practice, and policymaking. Currently, it is estimated that 12 million people in the United States are involved in business start-ups; the phenomenon is embedded in the American culture--and in many others around the world. The Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) research program is designed to enhance the scientific understanding of how people start businesses, by gathering and providing primary data on nascent entrepreneurship. The first phase of data collection was undertaken between 1998 and 2000; the second phase, PSED II, initiated in 2005, with support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the U.S. Small Business Administration, was completed in 2006, involving 2,300 variables on a sample of over 1,200 entrepreneurs. The program is now being expanded to other countries. This volume includes contributions from the organizers and advisory board members of the PSED II project, highlighting the key implications and applications of the data. Covering such topics as entrepreneurial behavior, demographic and gender factors, financing the emerging business, ownership arrangements, and the roles of social capital and technology, the information obtained includes data on the nature of those active as nascent entrepreneurs, the activities undertaken during the start-up process, and the characteristics of start-up efforts that become new firms. Including an appendix explaining the data collection procedures, the result is an introduction to the theories, conceptualizations, approaches, and measurement of the business creation process, and a guide for those planning more detailed analysis.