Experience, farmers, and state governments: An entrepreneurial perspective
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to gain a better understanding of the impact of experience on performance, the farm versus nonfarm self-employed, and the impact of government expenditures on firm birth from an entrepreneurial perspective. Throughout the entrepreneurial literature, it has been hypothesized that experience heightens entrepreneurial performance; however, the results obtained through empirical analyses vary. The current study explores both published and unpublished literature via a literature review and meta-analysis to determine study specific sources contributing to the variance in results across the literature. Results of the meta-analysis reveal that experience type plays a significant role in determining the estimated effect for experience on performance. The farm self-employed have often been perceived to differ markedly from the nonfarm self-employed, due to the "farm problem" and differences in business structures. This research explores factors affecting self-employment farm or business income for the farm and nonfarm self-employed utilizing the American Community Surveys dataset to ensure that only individuals considering themselves as primarily self-employed are compared to one another. The results support the conceptualization of the Sustainable Family Business Model and indicate that the farm self-employed do not appear to be at any significant disadvantage when compared to the nonfarm self-employed. Small firm births are an essential component of both the national and states' economies due to their ability to stimulate economic growth and create jobs. As such, stimulating firm birth is a major agenda in state government policy-making. This research empirically tests common state government expenditures, along with socioeconomic factors to determine their impact on firm birth density. Expenditures exerting a positive and significant effect are then tested in a nonparametric efficiency analysis to determine states' relative efficiencies in promoting firm births utilizing the target expenditures. Comparisons are then made between states in terms of efficient use of expenditures.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Marshall, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Agricultural economics|Public administration
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