The financial crisis has made the theme of economic development particularly significant. Analysis of this topic cannot ignore a key actor, that is, public administration. Here, we focus on all the Italian municipalities (n = 7,978), analyzing the relationship between local public policies (in terms of municipalities’ governance and local governments’ financial engagement) supporting urban economic development and local entrepreneurial presence (total number of active firms). Applying the general least square (GLS) method for over 4 years (2014–2017; n = 31,912 observations), we find that the financial autonomy of cities and their financial efforts toward international programs, agriculture, agri-food and fisheries, tourism, culture, and economic development policies favor entrepreneurial presence. Our conclusion, contributing to public management and policy literature, also highlights some limits of the research and some related opportunities for further research on the subject.

金融危机使经济发展这一主题显得尤为突出。对这个话题的分析不能忽视一个关键角色，即公共行政。在这里，我们专注于所有意大利自治市（n= 7,978)，分析了支持城市经济发展的地方公共政策（在市政当局的治理和地方政府的财政参与方面）与地方创业存在（活跃公司总数）之间的关系。应用一般最小二乘 (GLS) 方法超过 4 年（2014-2017；n = 31,912 次观察），我们发现城市的财务自主权及其对国际项目、农业、农业食品和渔业、旅游业、文化和经济发展政策有利于创业。我们的结论有助于公共管理和政策文献，也突出了研究的一些局限性以及对该主题进行进一步研究的一些相关机会。