In the USA, governors became central figures in the fight against the novel coronavirus. In many cases, state leaders were forced to choose between preserving life and protecting economic livelihood. While prior research has underscored the important role that US governors played in implementing healthcare policies at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we know little about how characteristics of state leaders impacted self-employment. In this paper, we draw from upper echelons theory to examine how governor party and discretion impacted venture creation in the food and restaurant industry. Interestingly, we find no significant relationship between governor party and venture creation. However, we find that when the governor and legislature were unified in their political party — irrespective of party line — there were a higher number of new food and restaurant ventures created. We also found this effect to be strengthened when small business unemployment levels were higher. We explore the implications of these results for how unity of command may be beneficial during times of crisis.

在美国，州长们成为抗击新型冠状病毒的核心人物。在许多情况下，国家领导人被迫在挽救生命和保护经济生计之间做出选择。尽管之前的研究强调了美国州长在 COVID-19 大流行爆发时在实施医疗保健政策方面发挥的重要作用，但我们对国家领导人的特征如何影响自营职业知之甚少。在本文中，我们借鉴高层理论来研究州长政党和自由裁量权如何影响食品和餐饮行业的风险投资。有趣的是，我们发现州长政党和企业创建之间没有显着关系。然而，我们发现，当州长和立法机关在各自的政党中统一时（无论党派路线如何），就会创建更多的新食品和餐馆企业。我们还发现，当小企业失业率较高时，这种效应会加强。我们探讨了这些结果对统一指挥在危机时期如何发挥作用的影响。