Entrepreneurship in mid-sized cities in Chile: Its links with employment and urban sustainability

Abstract

Entrepreneurship has been understood as an important driver of new employment, and of economic well-being, and therefore many public policy programs have focused on it. Drawing on conceptual proposals that underpin this supposed relationship, it is argued here that the central point for an assessment from a sustainability perspective lies in the employment generated. The paper analyzes quantitatively the recent development of entrepreneurship in ten medium-sized cities in Chile and the associated employment. It becomes evident that, although entrepreneurship has a similar temporality in the analyzed cities, there are different spatial patterns, highlighting the greater dynamism in northern cities. Both, the policy of encouraging entrepreneurship and the existence of financial liquidity, are offered as an explanation. However, this is not creating new jobs in a similar manner, and the created workplaces show structural weaknesses, evidencing that the expected contribution is not generated - at least not from a sustainable urban development perspective.