Mikaela Backman

Accessibility to Human Capital and New Firm Formation

This paper investigates the impact human capital has on new firm formation, traditionally expected to have a positive influence. Since human capital is partly spatially bounded, the size of local accessibility to human capital is expected to have a larger impact than regional and national interaction. The empirical analysis is based on data on new firm formation for Swedish urban areas and accessibility to human capital. In the analysis, the urban areas are divided into several groups. The results indicate that it is the local accessibility to human capital that has a positive impact on new firm formation.

Innovation in the hospitality industry: Firm or location?

The hospitality industry is a rapidly growing revenue generator in many countries and is becoming economically important for generating employment and for integrating of immigrants into the labor market. As an industry where firms face fierce competition, it is important for the firms to maintain their competitiveness by distinguishing themselves from others through continuous improvements and innovations. In this article, we investigate the determinants of innovation in the hospitality industry by analyzing survey data gathered from over 900 firms in Sweden. In the analysis, we differentiate between firm-specific and location-specific features. We conclude that the most important characteristics that explain innovation lie within the firm itself, not the location. These results provide important insights regarding firm- versus location-placed innovation policies.

Banks and new firm formation

It is natural to assume that the characteristics of the bank sector are important factors for new firm formation when external capital is needed for establishing new firms. The local bank sector acts as the main provider of financial funds in Sweden since other sources of external capital are limited. In addition, the banking services needed in the start-up process tend to be sensitive to distance and are mainly supplied locally. Thus, the structure of the local bank sector is an important factor that determines the conditions for start-ups. The finding in this paper supports the hypothesis that new firm formation is positively influenced by (1) the average size of the bank branches, (2) number of independent banks and bank branches per capita, and (3) the intensity of competition level. Access to independent banks and bank branches has a stronger influence on start-ups in more rural locations.

Roots to Grow: Family Firms and Local Embeddedness in Rural and Urban Contexts

The present study analyzes the nexus among business growth, ownership structure, and local embeddedness—that is, the involvement of economic actors in a geographically bound social structure—in rural and urban contexts. This work combines regional economics with studies on family business and firm growth and uses a coarsened matched sample of privately held Swedish firms. The findings indicate that family firms benefit more than nonfamily firms from local embeddedness and as such they achieve higher levels of growth and that this effect is more pronounced in rural areas. Research implications are shared in the Conclusion section.

Returns to Higher Education : a Regional Perspective

The returns to education have been thoroughly investigated and Sweden has shown to have a relatively low return compared to other countries in Europe. Nevertheless, few studies have combined the regional perspective with returns to education. Hence, the purpose of the paper is to analyze regional differences in their returns to higher education within natural science, engineering and medicine. We assume that individuals maximize expected utility; they will try to attain the highest expected return to education as possible. The regional sum of employment possibilities as well as unemployment shares may differ between regions. Therefore, it is plausible to believe that the regional return to education varies between locations which accounted for in the empirical part of the paper. The result shows that there are clear differences between regional classifications concerning returns to higher education. Central urban regions, except the three largest cities and ten largest universities have the highest return to education. These regions may need to compensate the individuals with a higher return. The three largest cities in Sweden have a relatively low return but have other amenities that attract individuals.