The description of the data base on industrial monuments in Germany that I collected together with Maria Greve, Matthias Huegel, and Michael Wyrwich.is now published in the Journal of Economics and Statistics. https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2025-0015

What are the drivers of change in regional entrepreneurship performance over time? To what extent is the development of regional entrepreneurial activity in different national contexts driven by the same or similar factors? How important is the national context compared to regional factors?

In a new paper that was just published in Regional Studies Jon Potter, Haifeng Qian, Georgios Fotopoulos, and I provide a first systematic international comparison of long-term persistence and change of regional levels in self-employment and new business formation in the United States, England and Wales, and West Germany. Analyzing the factors associated with long-term changes in regional start-up performance over a 40-year period (1980-2020), we find that the three economies are highly comparable in the levels of path dependency in their regional start-up rate rankings. Most importantly, the factors related to long-term changes in regional start-up performance in the three economies are quite similar. We find that regional levels of human capital, foreign-born population and population density explain improvements of regional performance, while regional wages, population age structure, small firm presence, and regional industry structure are not important factors. We suggest policy implications and an agenda for further research. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2025.2474033

Together with Maria Greve and Michael Wyrwich I contributed to a book that honours my good colleague David Storey who passed away in July 2023. In this article we describe and analyze the long-term development of self-employment in German regions between 1895 and 2019. Based on rankings (“league tables”) for the two years we identify those regions where the relative level of self-employment significantly increased (‘leapfroggers’), and those where the level of self-employment as compared to other regions deteriorated (‘plungers’). While there is some persistence of regional self-employment despite all the disruptive changes that Germany experience during the period of analysis, we also find and discuss considerable changes of regional levels of entrepreneurial activity.

The article is titled „David Storey on Regional Entrepreneurship: The Entrepreneurial League Table of German Regions 1895 and 2019“ and is published in George Saridakis and Jay Mitra (eds.): Entrepreneurship and Small Business: Collection of Research, Policy and Personal Insights in Honour of Contributions of David Storey. Cham 2025: Palgrave Macmillan.  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-72190-8_11

My paper together with Martin Obschonka, Fabian Wahl, Michael Wyrwich, Peter Jason Rentfrow, Jeff Potter and Samuel D. Gosling about the effects of Roman occupation aboiut 2 000 years ago on today’s population will be published in Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology. The paper is titled „Roma Eterna? Roman Rule Explains Regional Well-Being Divides in Germany“ and is already available under https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2025.100214.

Abstract: In light of persisting regional inequalities in adaptive outcomes such as health and well-being, and related personality traits, psychological research has begun to embrace a historical perspective to understand the deeper roots of these regional patterns and the factors driving their persistence. Here we go one step further by directly examining the as-yet overlooked role of ancient cultures and the possibility that they had an enduring impact on the macro-psychological character of regions. Exploiting a massive civilization divide that ran through Germany around 2,000 years ago – the Roman Limes protection wall—we compare present-day German regions that were occupied and fundamentally advanced by Roman culture with German regions that remained part of the relatively undeveloped territory. Even when controlling for more recent historical influences and influential borders within Germany, we find evidence that the regions once developed by Roman civilization show more-adaptive personality patterns and related positive health and psychological well-being outcomes today than do other regions. Results from a spatial regression discontinuity design indicate a treatment effect of the Roman border on present-day regional variation in adaptive outcomes. Additional analyses suggest it was particularly the Roman investments in advanced economic institutions (e.g., trade infrastructure), with their long-reaching economic and macro-psychological path dependencies, that were instrumental in creating this long-term Roman effect. Together, the results illustrate how ancient cultures can imprint a macro-psychological legacy by setting in motion cumulative mechanisms that continue to contribute to present-day regional inequalities.

Anzahl der Industriedenkmale pro 1.000 Einwohner in Deutschland (Kreise) / Number of industrial monuments per 1,000 inhabitants in Germany (districts)

Maria Greve, Michael Wyrwich und ich haben erstmalig eine Datenbasis erstellt, die auf der Ebene von Kreisen die Anzahl der vorhandenen Industriedenkmale in den Bereichen Produktion, Versorgung und Verkehr sowie die Anzahl der Brücken und Aquädukte enthält. Der Datensatz ist frei verfügbar und kann beim Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften (GESIS) unter https://doi.org/10.7802/2821 sowie auf diesen Seiten im Bereich „Material“ (https://m-fritsch.de/material/) im Excel-Format herunter geladen werden. Die Vorgehensweise bei der Erstellung dieser Datenbasis haben wir in einem Working Paper genauer beschrieben, das auch einige Übersichten enthält:

Michael Fritsch, Matthias Huegel, Maria Greve und Michael Wyrwich: Industrial Monuments in Germany: Data Basis and Overview of Regional Structures (German version: Industriedenkmale in Deutschland: Datengrundlage und Überblick über regionale Strukturen). Jena Economic Research Papers #2025-001, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. https://ideas.repec.org/p/jrp/jrpwrp/2025-0061.html  

Maria Greve, Michael Wyrwich and I have created a database for the first time that contains the number of existing industrial monuments in the areas of production, supply and transportation as well as the number of bridges and aqueducts at the district level. The dataset is freely available and can be downloaded in Excel format from the Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences (GESIS) at https://doi.org/10.7802/2821 and on these pages in the “Material” section (https://m-fritsch.de/material/). We have described the procedure for creating this database in more detail in a working paper, which also contains several overviews:

Michael Fritsch, Matthias Huegel, Maria Greve and Michael Wyrwich: Industrial Monuments in Germany: Data Basis and Overview of Regional Structures (German version: Industriedenkmale in Deutschland: Datengrundlage und Überblick über regionale Strukturen). Jena Economic Research Papers #2025-001, Friedrich Schiller University Jena. https://ideas.repec.org/p/jrp/jrpwrp/2025-0061.html  

I contributed a survey „Entrepreneurship and Regional Development“ to The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurship edited by Jay Mitra. (ed.), Cham 2024: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. . https://eoi-org/10.1007/978-3-030-68128-9_30-1

A main focus of this survey of research on the role of entrepreneurship in regional development is on the interaction between new businesses and incumbent firms. This interaction is of key importance for the explaining the impact of new businesses on regional performance. The level of regional entrepreneurship, particularly the number and quality of new businesses, and the competition between newcomers and incumbent firms are considerably shaped by the regional context. Regional levels of entrepreneurial activity tend to follow long-term trends that can be shaped by regional cultures and change only rather slowly. Hence, a policy that aims to improve entrepreneurship in a region needs a long-term perspective.
 

The paper „Historical Roots of Entrepreneurship Ecosystems“ (together with Michael Wyrwich) is now published in the Research Handbook on Entrepreneurial Ecosystemsbook edited by James A. Cunningham, Matthias Menter, Conor O’Kane and Marco Romano, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishers, pp. 21-41. https://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781800378988.

The paper contributes to an evolutionary perspective on entrepreneurial ecosystems by reviewing the research on the development of regional entrepreneurship over time. A particular focus is on the long-run persistence of regional levels of entrepreneurship, its explanation, and its meaning for economic development. What is the state of empirical research in this field and what can explain the empirical picture found? How are long-term trends of entrepreneurial activity linked to regional performance? Based on these assessments the paper derives policy implications and avenues for further research.