Francesco Perugini (p), Donato Iacobucci

Marcela Guachamìn

Entrepreneurship is considered a relevant factor of economic growth as it stimulates employment, intensify competition for existing businesses and introduce innovations. It also appears to be an important vehicle for economic recovery when the economy is hit by an external shock, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The main aim of this paper is to empirically investigate how firms dynamic changed following the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Data shows that firm registration decreased during the pandemic, however its impact has been geographically and sectorally uneven. Results shows a statistically not significant impact of the pandemic on firms registration and a statistically significant impact of the structural characteristics of the economy at the local level.

Dirk Dohse (p), Eckhardt Bode

Francesco Perugini

The aim of this paper is to examine how population aging is affecting entrepreneurship and labor productivity growth in Germany. Using Nuts3-level panel data from different sources observed over the period 2000 – 2019, we find that the economic effects of aging in urban regions and in rural regions differ substantially. While rural regions are on average older and age faster than urban regions, urban regions are nevertheless more affected by aging in terms of lower productivity growth. One potential mechanism behind this finding is entrepreneurship. There is ample evidence in the empirical literature that population aging depresses new firm formation, but studies investigating how these effects differ between different types of regions are rare. The current paper intends to fill this gap. We hypothesize that the effects of aging are region-biased, as start-ups in cities are on average more innovative and more knowledge-based than start-ups in rural areas, and knowledge-intensive start-ups depend more heavily on a sufficient supply of young, innovative and highly qualified people within the region.Hypotheses are tested using state-of-the-art econometric techniques. The paper contributes to a better understanding of the differing regional economic effects of population aging and has important implications for regional and national policy making.

Mikael Akimowicz (p), Kaouther Toumi, Rania Chaabane, Nabil Ghalleb

Dirk Dohse

Citizen participation is one of the pillars of sustainable development for rural areas. In this paper, we examine the impact of an initiative led by a non-governmental organization. Through the economic empowerment of citizens, it aims to foster their political empowerment and encourage their civic engagement. It is based on training programs for citizen participation, complemented by the provision of entrepreneurial resources (management and agricultural training, partnership with Islamic microfinance institutions). The results, obtained using a mixed-method approach combining econometric analysis and focus groups, reveal a positive perception of the agricultural entrepreneurial initiative by participants. However, despite this positive reception, the inherent complexity of creating and sustaining an agricultural project hinders their engagement in civic participation activities. These findings suggest that longer-term support for project leaders could significantly improve their chances of becoming involved in civic participation.

Marcela Guachamìn (p)

Mikael Akimowicz

The contribution of the popular and solidarity economic sector organizations in the Ecuadorian economy has increased, so it is necessary to measure the sustainability of their entrepreneurship. Therefore, this study proposes the construction of a sustainability index considering the following dimensions: administrative and organizational processes, productivity, innovation, income generation, participatory democracy, cooperation, and environmental practices, using the VAE network model. The networks constructed for each dimension are consistent according to minimum loss by the Bayesian optimizer, and the observable variables are aligned with the literature. This study identifies the high, medium, and low sustainability levels of PSE organizations at the provincial level.