ABSTRACT
Over the past decade or so numerous studies have examined the determinants of variations in U.K. firm birth rates across geographical areas, industrial sectors and over time. (For a good review of these studies and for recent empirical work, see Keeble et al., 1993; see also Storey, 1994, pp. 49-77.) Work is now also being done on the effects of firm births on employment and other economic indicators (e.g. Ashcroft and Love, 1994; Johnson and Parker, 1994, 1996).
