An empirical assessment of entrepreneurial behaviour: the case of Italy

General agreement exists on Italy’s strong entrepreneurial tradition. It is also customarily believed that the large majority of entrepreneurial firms are located in the Northern part of the country. Recent years however, have seen an increasing number of small ventures being initiated by younger Italians in the South. Using an original data set collected in Italy during spring 2001, the paper documents the shift taking place in the Italian entrepreneurial landscape. In addition to demographic factors, previous managerial experience and alertness to unexploited opportunities are shown to be among the main reasons for the redistribution of entrepreneurial activity across the country.