This is the most comprehensive and detailed assessment of how new business come about. Based on the first US Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED I), this study looked at over 130 factors related to business start-ups and focused on nascent entrepreneurs. Some of its findings include: The large number and growth of nascent entrepreneurs; major factors involved in the start-up process and becoming a nascent entrepreneur are unrelated to completion of the start-up process of a successful new firm; the activities of the start-up process - not the characteristics - impact the transition from start-up to successful new firm.

New Firm Creation in the United States shows the value of tracking a representative sample of entrepreneurs in a longitudinal study. The implications for public policy are huge in that efforts to increase new start-ups to improve economic growth may be different to those designed to assist disadvantaged groups develop a role in the economy though entrepreneurship.