Abstract

The last gem (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) report shows that Italy has the lowest rate in new firms formation. Italy is also characterized by large territorial differences in entrepreneurial rates. The main aims of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the factors affecting these differences and their persistence over time. For the empirical analysis, we consider the creation of new firms in Italy from 2001 to 2012 using the Movimprese database provided by the Chambers of Commerce. The empirical analysis shows that the territorial differences in entrepreneurial rates are highly persistent over time. This is especially true for the manufacturing sector given the presence of path dependence effects.