Professor Haifeng Qian, School Director, has been investigating the regional dynamics of entrepreneurship. Collaborating with scholars from France, Germany, Greece, and the United Kingdom, he examines whether regions or cities that led the nation in business startup activity decades ago remain national leaders today in the context of Germany, England and Wales, and the United States.

“Our analysis shows that regional entrepreneurial activity is remarkably persistent over time,” Qian says. “A city’s position in the national ranking of business startup rates in 1980 can well predict its national ranking position today. In the United States, for example, metropolitan areas such as Bend, Oregon, and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, consistently rank among the top 10 in the nation.” 

Despite strong evidence on the persistence of regional entrepreneurship, some cities moved up significantly in the national ranking during a four-decade period from 1978 to 2019. Qian and his collaborators call them “leapfroggers.” Their analysis shows that cities with high population density, high human capital (i.e. share of population with college degrees), and high foreign-born population in 1980 were well positioned to leapfrog in the following four decades. In the United States, for example, large cities with high shares of college degree holders and immigrants, including New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, are among the top 10 leapfrogging metropolitan areas. 

These research findings were initially reported in a publication by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). An extended study has since been published in a peer-reviewed journal, Regional Studies.