Entrepreneurship and network externalities

Studies on agglomeration show that economic characteristics explain only a portion of variance in entrepreneurship rates across regions. To complement these studies, I argue that entrepreneurship tends to concentrate geographically, in part, because of the social environment. I suggest that, when making decisions, individuals follow social cues and are influenced by what others have chosen, especially when facing ambiguous situations. Such influence may be described as a non-pecuniary network externality. Using a non-linear path-dependent stochastic process, I build a model of entrepreneurial dynamics showing why communities with initially similar economic characteristics may end up with different levels of entrepreneurial activity. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.