Convergence Analysis of the Entrepreneurship Start-Up Barriers

Abstract

In a majority of the existing research on entrepreneurship start-up, the three primary enjoy barriers of 'cost', 'time', and 'procedures' were analysed. Thus, we examine whether country differences in these start-up barriers existing in 2003 have been reduced by 2015. We deploy Sigma and Gamma convergence methods to answer these questions for 132 countries. Results indicate that all three barriers are converging toward dispersion reduction and catch-up process at the annual rates ranging from −3.37% to −0.49%. Also, speeds of convergence vary significantly by the subgroups of countries by incomes and regions. Implications of these findings will be discussed.