Abstract

What makes a place desirable is the subject of much debate. We conduct a mixed methods analysis on two mid-sized US cities—Indianapolis and Kansas City. We use a migration analysis to understand the flow of the general population, creative workers, and entrepreneurs, followed by an exploratory qualitative analysis of impactful entrepreneurs. Our migration analysis shows that these cities are gaining population overall as well as creative workers and entrepreneurs, and our exploratory qualitative analysis shows that entrepreneurs broadly value quality of life factors, including social and family reasons. Our analysis suggests that entrepreneurs are less mobile than the general population, and that they start companies where they live. We discuss the implications of our study for the broader debate on what makes cities attractive and for further refinement of multidimensionality in the urban amenities literature.

Plain English Summary

Entrepreneurs and creative workers are less mobile than the general population in two mid-sized American cities. We study migration trends of the general population, creative workers, and entrepreneurs in Indianapolis and Kansas City, supplemented with exploratory interviews of impactful entrepreneurs. We find that entrepreneurs are “sticky” in both contexts, and that the reasons for location can be tied to quality of life overall. Our findings have implications for research, which can further investigate the multidimensionality of attractiveness of place, and for policy, which can consider the needs of entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs.

中文翻译：

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企业家的粘性：美国两个中等城市移民的探索性研究

摘要

是什么让一个地方令人向往是很多争论的主题。我们对两个美国中等城市——印第安纳波利斯和堪萨斯城进行了混合方法分析。我们使用迁移分析来了解一般人口、创意工作者和企业家的流动，然后对有影响力的企业家进行探索性的定性分析。我们的移民分析表明，这些城市的总体人口以及创意工作者和企业家都在增加，我们的探索性定性分析表明，企业家广泛重视生活质量因素，包括社会和家庭原因。我们的分析表明，企业家的流动性低于一般人群，他们在自己居住的地方创办公司。

简单的英语摘要

与美国两个中型城市的一般人口相比，企业家和创意工作者的流动性较低。我们研究了印第安纳波利斯和堪萨斯城的一般人群、创意工作者和企业家的移民趋势，并辅以对有影响力的企业家的探索性访谈。我们发现企业家在这两种情况下都具有“粘性”，并且地理位置的原因可能与整体生活质量有关。我们的研究结果对研究具有启示意义，可以进一步研究地方吸引力的多维性，对政策具有启示，可以考虑企业家和潜在企业家的需求。