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Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship—creating emerging sectors and new businesses to foster economic development—is a vital driver of the global economy. RAND research on U.S. entrepreneurship explores how public policy affects start-up businesses, from the impact of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 to the problems posed by the U.S. employer-based health care system; worldwide, RAND research has focused on international trade and entrepreneurship in developing countries.

News Release

News Release

Preparing Now Can Help Small Businesses Revive More Quickly as the Economy Reopens, Business Owners Tell RAND

As small businesses reopen after a lengthy pandemic shutdown, one key challenge will be finding working capital to replenish inventories and pay employees until revenue returns to normal.

May 27, 2020
Report

How Small Businesses Are Surviving the Pandemic

Small-business owners are facing many challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. What kinds of policies might help them in the immediate term? And what will they need to thrive once the public health crisis has passed?

May 22, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

When Financial Incentives Backfire: Evidence from a Community Health Worker Experiment in Uganda

Despite stronger financial incentives for community health workers, the entrepreneurial model led to substantially less effort (fewer household visits) than the free delivery model. Our results call into question the notion that an entrepreneurial model necessarily increases community health worker effort relative to free distribution.

Feb 13, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

Business Angel Spotlight

This study was a survey of Business Angels (high net worth individuals) in the UK to understand the trends and drivers in the start-up market in 2017. RAND Europe provided policy inputs that informed the findings of the study.

Oct 18, 2018
Commentary

Disneyland's Next Rival? The Theme Park in Your Living Room

Cheap and capable technologies available to everyone allow entrepreneurs and gamers to compete with the large multinational firms that develop and deliver entertainment. In 2018 we will see the arrival of micro amusement parks with technology-based rides.

Jan 10, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Can Income Diversification Explain the Growing Entrepreneurship Gap by Age?

The key result of our analysis is that income diversification has become increasingly important in determining entrepreneurship, but that younger households became less likely over time to have income from multiple sources. At the same time, older households maintained their income diversification and their likelihood of working as entrepreneurs became more responsive to having substantial income from non-business sources such as capital income and Social Security benefits.

Aug 15, 2017
Commentary

How Uganda Could Benefit from a Center for Food Innovation

A training and innovation center that trains and certifies street food vendors to address issues related to food hygiene, safety, and quality would accelerate the growth of a new Ugandan cuisine that capitalizes on nutritious local ingredients in a sustainable manner.

May 23, 2017
Commentary

What Street Food Vendors in Uganda Need to Succeed

Street vendors in Kampala, Uganda, would benefit from infrastructure development, food safety standards, rules of hygiene, and greater focus on healthy products. The city's growing population also would benefit from increased access to nutritious and affordable foods.

May 16, 2017
Report

Report

Combining Entrepreneurship and Web Development for High School Students: A Pilot Evaluation of the Startup Tech Program and High School Students' College and Career Aspirations

This pilot evaluation of Startup Tech assesses whether 12th-grade students experienced either improved self-efficacy or changes in their college and career plans during the year in which they were in the program.

Jan 6, 2017
Commentary

Book Review: 'Bourgeois Equality'

In Bourgeois Equality, economist and historian Deirdre McCloskey advances the theory that ideas — not capital, institutions, innovation, R&D, tax policy, monetary policy, or regulatory policy — are the propelling force behind economic and societal growth.

Sep 30, 2016
Dissertation

Exploring Sources of Innovation in the Knowledge-Based Economy: The Case of Los Angeles

Uses a mix of both quantitative and qualitative methods to help policy makers identify sources of innovation in the knowledge-based economy and to best leverage these sources for regional economic growth.

Jul 15, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

Pilot Projects Under the Call for Proposals 'Supporting the Demand and Supply Side of the Market for Social Enterprise Finance': Final Report

The objective of the call was to identify, develop, promote and disseminate the good practice of national, regional or local governments and of financial intermediaries in assisting young social entrepreneurs at times of high youth unemployment.

Apr 18, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

Time Discounting in Strategic Contests

This paper uses controlled laboratory experiments to explore how the timing of prize payment impacts behavior in a contest with a unique Nash equilibrium strategy.

Mar 17, 2016
Essay

How Smart Grids Can Change the Way We Live

A modernized, “smart” grid could change how much you pay for electricity, where it comes from, and how likely you are to lose it in a summer storm. But has the reality of the smart grid kept pace with the promise?

Apr 27, 2015
Journal Article

Journal Article

Assessing Entrepreneurship in Governmental Public Health

We assessed the feasibility and desirability of public health entrepreneurship (PHE) in governmental public health.

Feb 26, 2015
Report

The Adoption of New Smart-Grid Technologies

A smart grid for the United States could have large-scale benefits. There are technological, economic, and regulatory barriers, but new policies or changes to policy could help overcome them.

Jan 15, 2015
Brochure

Brochure

Addressing demand and supply side of the social enterprise finance market

The document presents 21 projects that aimed to develop social finance markets in 15 EU countries. RAND Europe and Ecorys worked with the European Commission to support the exchange of experiences and mutual learning between the projects.

Dec 31, 2014
Dissertation

Dissertation

Essays on Family Welfare and Indian Development Policy

Explores family welfare and economic development in India.

Dec 16, 2014
Announcement

Pardee RAND Graduate School Receives $1 Million Gift, Establishes Lynda and Stewart Resnick Endowed Scholarship

A $1 million gift from philanthropists Lynda and Stewart Resnick will help Ph.D. candidates at the Pardee RAND Graduate School receive exceptional training today to embark on careers in public service.

Oct 22, 2014
Commentary

Solutions for Youth Employment: New Coalition Takes on Pervasive, Persistent Global Problem

Youth unemployment is a pervasive and persistent worldwide scourge: 75 million youth are unemployed now and that rate is expected to rise. RAND joined the World Bank, Accenture, International Youth Foundation, and others to form Solutions for Youth Employment, a unique coalition that acts to increase youth opportunities for productive employment.

Oct 17, 2014

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RAND Social and Economic Well-Being