Document Information
A Description and Analysis of Evolving Data Resources on Small Business
This paper describes the main government and private data sources currently available or under construction for research on small business and entrepreneurship. It also provides a listing of resources researchers can use to gain more information about each data set. Of particular importance are new longitudinal data sets created by the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics, which allow for the study of business entry and exit (which is especially relevant to small business policy) as well as changes within establishments and firms to be studied over time. The most notable gap in current small business data sources is the lack of a publicly available source of longitudinal data. In the next five years, this gap will be at least partially addressed by the Kauffman Firm Survey of new businesses. Information on this survey design and instrument is available now and researchers can begin to design research studies that would take advantage of the data when they become available.
Free, downloadable PDF file(s) are available below.
RAND makes an electronic version of this document available for free as a public service.
Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 7.0 or higher for the best experience.
The research described in this report was completed under the auspices of the Kauffman-RAND Institute for Entrepreneurship Public Policy and was funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
This product is part of the RAND working paper series. RAND working papers are intended to share researchers' latest findings, to solicit informal peer review, or to publish a technical appendix to an article published in a scientific journal. They have been approved for circulation by the sponsoring RAND research unit but typically have not been formally edited or peer reviewed. Unless otherwise indicated, working papers can be quoted and cited without permission of the author, provided the source is clearly referred to as a working paper.
Permission is given to duplicate this electronic document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND Permissions page.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.
* RAND research is conducted across divisions, centers, and projects; these organizational components are represented in the "Related RAND Divisions" section above.
Top
RAND® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 1994-2008 RAND Corporation. Last Modified: May 09, 2008 