Declining Business Dynamism in Belgium



Bijnens, Gert and Konings, Jozef ORCID: 0000-0003-1280-4674
(2018) Declining Business Dynamism in Belgium. Small Business Economics, 54 (4). pp. 1201-1239.

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Abstract

Using 30 years of data from all for-profit firms incorporated in Belgium, we show that business dynamism and entrepreneurship have been declining over recent decades. This decline set in around the year 2000 following a decade of declining start-up rates. We also observe a decreasing share of young firms that become high-growth firms and more importantly a declining propensity for small (not necessarily young) firms to experience fast growth. Interestingly, a similar decline in business dynamism occurred in the USA, where firms face a far less rigid institutional environment than in Belgium. These remarkable similarities suggest that global trends rather than country-specific changes are at the basis of this evolution. We show evidence that points to the role of ICT intensity in explaining the secular decline in business dynamism.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Business dynamism, Firm dynamics, Firm growth, Entry, Reallocation, High-growth firms, High-impact firms
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 14 Nov 2018 08:41
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2023 01:12
DOI: 10.1007/s11187-018-0123-4
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3028795