This article assesses the spatial–temporal persistence of a dynamic phenomenon: start-ups. Two mechanisms that explain persistence in start-up rates are distinguished: (i) determinants of start-ups that are spatially ‘sticky’ and durable and (ii) path dependence in start-up activities in the form of a response mechanism between previous and current start-up activities. A dynamic panel analysis of the relationship between lagged start-up rates and current start-up rates confirms that both effects are important in explaining persistence. The second mechanism implies a regional dimension in persistence, such that regions with high levels of start-up rates will exhibit stronger persistence. We find empirical evidence of this using quantile regression techniques.

This paper investigates how the creative economy discourse is interpreted and implemented in the context of Indonesia as a developing country. Our main conclusion is that the discourse is interpreted differently across localities. Bandung appears to be the only locality whose interpretation aligns with the general understanding of a creative economy that emphasises knowledge creation and innovation. This was made possible by the strong support from academia and communities who wanted to experiment with this policy idea. Our study also provides an insight into a creative economy developing not only as a discourse, but also as a workable framework for development policies, in this city. Conversely, other cities seem to pragmatically use the policy idea without considering the local context in a rebranding exercise in order to drive economic development, whereby traditional cultural industries are relabelled as creative despite performing hardly any innovation activities. Despite this, Bandung illustrates that there are possibilities for a developing country such as Indonesia to adopt the vision of a creative economy by reshaping local institutions to support successful experimentation with this new idea.

Many regions across the European Union, including regions in the Netherlands, face population decline, entailing changing demographics and related social and economic implications. This paper looks into the connection between population change and structure, and rates of new firm formation. Although it is clear that fewer people will eventually lead to fewer firms, as well as fewer new firms, it is assessed whether this negative relationship differs with the intensity of population change and across regional contexts. In order to establish the impact of population change on new firm formation, this paper examines data on population density, size, growth and decline, together with firm dynamics for the period 2003–09. The results show that the relationship between new firm formation and population change depends heavily on the regional context. The results indicate that new firm formation in urban regions tends to be negatively influenced by population change, while the impact in rural regions remains positive. In conclusion, clear differences are found in the intensity of the impact of population change on new firm formation according to the type of region. The regional context and the intensity of decline must be taken into account when determining the kind of coping mechanism needed to deal with the consequences of decline

The possible impacts of contextual effects on political behaviour have long been studied and analysed by political scientists and geographers We review previous relevant literature and extend it by incorporating the recent rise of populism and developments of socio‐economic determinants of the political economy of discontent and the geography of happiness and well‐being across the European Union. In particular, the research presented in this article is aimed at analysing the impact of individual and contextual variables on political behaviour across European regions. Additionally, this paper examines links between subjective well‐being and political preferences, while at the same time considers contextual factors at the regional level across Europe. Methodologically, we adopt a multilevel modelling approach to examine subjective happiness indicators in relation to factors of political geography. We employ data from the European Social Survey (ESS) to estimate the effects of economic and non‐economic factors across Europe on the geography of subjective happiness and discontent using individual social values and cultural norms. We find that not only are individual level characteristics significant, but so too are regional characteristics.

This article analyses the possible link between entrepreneurship and economic development for the case of India. This link has been studied extensively for developed countries, but less so for developing countries. Using the GEM-model as a reference, we expect declining rates of entrepreneurship, as economic development opens up employment possibilities decreasing the number of necessity entrepreneurship. This pattern, however, is not found in the Indian case. Rather, entrepreneurship appears to be an important driver of recent economic growth. This can be explained by the fact that India is very much a service-based economy that facilitates small-scale firms. Although the level of entrepreneurship is increasing over time, the quality of the small firms remains rather stable; the share of registered firms remains equal over time. Given the importance of high-quality entrepreneurship for economic development, it seems that increasing the quality of entrepreneurship should be the main focus of policy measures.