Difference between revisions of "Measuring High-Growth High-Technology Entrepreneurship Ecosystems"

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|Has title=Measuring High-Growth High-Technology Entrepreneurship Ecosystems
 
|Has title=Measuring High-Growth High-Technology Entrepreneurship Ecosystems
 
|Has author=Ed Egan,
 
|Has author=Ed Egan,
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|Has paper status=R and R
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|Has paper status=Published
 
}}
 
}}
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==Current Version==
 
  
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The current version. which is currently a 2nd R&R at Research Policy is:
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==Final Version==
  
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<pdf>File:MeasuringHGHTEntrepreneurshipEcosystemsV3-3.pdf</pdf>
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*The final version was accepted to Research Policy on May 17th, 2021.
 +
*The 50-day share link is: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1d8SaB5ASINVf
 +
*The title was changed to "A Framework for Assessing Municipal High-Growth High-Tech Entrepreneurship Policy"
  
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===Timeline of Submission===
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<pdf>File:Egan_(2021)_-_A_Framework_for_Assessing_Municipal_High-Growth_High-Tech_Entrepreneurship_Policy.pdf</pdf>
  
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This paper had a storied submission process:
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The BibTeX reference is (pending update with volume and number):
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*The deadline for resubmission was June 15th, 2020. Before this deadline, I emailed the editors and offered them either this version of the paper, which contains no empirics, or an empirical paper without examples or definitions. I received no response.
 
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*This version of the paper was submitted as an R&R to a Special Issue of Research Policy on June 10th, 2020, with manuscript number RESPOL-D-19-01438R1.
 
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*On September 15th, I sent an email to the editors requesting information but received no response.
 
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*I wrote to the editors again on October 27th, this time using the Elvesier form, to request another update. The last status reported by Elvesier (https://ees.elsevier.com/respol/default.asp) was 'Required Reviews Complete' on October 9th, 2020.
 
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*On October 28th, I received an email saying: "Hello Ed. I hope to get back to you shortly. I have two good reviews and I’m waiting on a third. This most definitely will be another R&R. More soon"
 
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*On November 8th, I got an official email about the paper that said: "We have now received the referees' reports on your paper, copies of which I enclose below for your information.  As you will see, the referees make various comments and suggestions for improvement. I have given up on the third reviewer and want to return the paper to you." However, this email only contained one review. I requested clarification and noted that Reviewer 3 had asked for empirics.
 
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On November 11th I got an email that said: "Hello Ed,  This is strange. The comments were in the comments to the editor.  Here they are and they are not worth that much.  This special issue has a specific purpose.  '''You do not need to run regressions!'''" The comments are below as Reviewer 1. They indicate that the reviewer accepted the paper.
 
  
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===2nd R&R===
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@article{EGAN2021104292,
 +
  title = {A framework for assessing municipal high-growth high-technology entrepreneurship policy},
 +
  journal = {Research Policy},
 +
  pages = {104292},
 +
  year = {2021},
 +
  issn = {0048-7333},
 +
  doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2021.104292},
 +
  url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733321000937},
 +
  author = {Edward J. Egan},
 +
  keywords = {Entrepreneurship, Ecosystem, Measurement, High-growth high-technology, Venture capital, Ecosystem support organization, Pipeline, Raise rate, Policy cartel},
 +
  abstract = {This paper advances a framework for making rudimentary need, impact, and cost–benefit assessments of municipal high-growth high-tech entrepreneurship policy. The framework views ecosystem support organizations like accelerators, incubators, and hubs as components in a city’s venture pipeline. A component’s pipeline size, raise rate, and cost per raise measure its performance. In total, the framework consists of eight objective and reproducible measures based on quantities and qualities of venture capital investment and 16 definitions of related terms-of-the-art. These measures and definitions are illustrated in 26 real-world policy examples, which assess initiatives in Houston and St. Louis over the last 20 years. The examples reveal an enormous variation in welfare effects, and some policies appear welfare destroying. Many non-profit organizations claim success (and win awards and acclaim) using non-standard measures despite performing at less than half benchmark levels. Policy cartels, which control startup policy in many U.S. cities, also engage in non-market actions to protect their rents.}
 +
}
  
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Note that there Reviewer 2 never returned any comments.
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The final file series was v4-6-2 in:
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====Reviewer 1's Comments====
 
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First of all, my sincere apologies to you and the authors for my very late report on the manuscript. Please excuse me for the delay.
 
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The authors study measures of high-growth, high-tech entrepreneurship activity across the U.S. and provide concrete examples of how municipalities can use these to assess various policy initiatives.  The authors claim that policy interventions at the municipal level have a significant impact on pre-venture startups, and that this has been missing from the extant academic literature. 
 
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Regarding my take on the paper: it is well done and given that it has already been revised once, I don't have many more major comments, but I do have one thing I would like to bring to your attention -- although the paper is polished, it doesn't seem like an academic paper with extensive empirical analysis (in fact, it doesn't have even a single regression) or with an analytical model that enhances our understanding of theory (doesn't have a single equation either). It is a collection of case studies and definitions, albeit very nicely done. Given my area of expertise in entrepreneurial finance and my own experience publishing an empirical study in ResPol, I feel ill-equipped to offer a recommendation on whether or not this paper fits the scope of ResPol. I believe that is largely an editorial decision and you would be the best judge for it. So, I will let you decide on this bigger question and will skip my minor suggestions for the author. I hope that is alright.
 
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====Reviewer 3's Comments====
 
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Reviewer #3: I'm recommending a major revision to the paper, which would likely constitute a lot of additional work, but I feel would greatly strengthen its contribution.
 
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The objective of this paper is establishing fifteen measures of HGHT entrepreneurship activity, and giving examples of their application and potential usefulness especially with regard to the behavior of what the author terms policy cartels.
 
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The defining of key terms is a useful contribution of this paper, as are the identification of potentially useful metrics of HGHT entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the examples are often helpful in highlighting their various applications.
 
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In my view, the major flaws in the study are not (1) considering possible downsides of each individual metric, (2) considering possible downsides in using the entire battery of measures, and (3) testing alternatives to this measurement approach. I briefly elaborate on these three points in the following paragraphs.
 
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In the conclusion, the author states that two antecedents to improved policy are "standardized measures, to reduce the information asymmetry between policymakers and constituents…and…a simple but grounded framework that can reduce the expertise required to develop and enact productive startup policy."
 
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First, it is not necessarily true that "standardized measurement" improves outcomes, such as policy, overall. Measurements are rarely if ever neutral (vis-à-vis behavior). Two examples are,
 
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*      First, we often implicitly assume that more information in the hands of decision makers is unambiguously good. But this requires a lot of assumptions that do not hold in real life. An additional measure, say, would influence decision making but perhaps the distortion is welfare decreasing. Nassim Taleb gives the example of "value at risk" (VAR), a metric commonly used in finance, in the foreword of the book Lecturing Birds on Flying (pp. xvi).
 
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*      Second, systematic bias due to gaming metrics incentivized by rewards attached to the measurement. Said differently, an agent would have the incentive to change behavior in the least costly way in order to maximize the payoff associated with the measurement---this behavioral change might have nothing to do with the underlying phenomenon of interest. By way of example, Weisbrod, Ballou, Asch in their book Mission and Money, discuss various measures used in university rankings published by US News & World Report, and how these are often finessed by schools in ways that have little to do with education (see pp. 64-65 for one such discussion).
 
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The point is, any conceived standardized framework is not necessarily better than nothing, and not all frameworks would be of equal value. I would have liked to see a more rigorous discussion of the merits of the framework purposed, which analysis would include at least the following:
 
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*      Discussion of alternative calculations of a measure when applicable. For example, the paper's Measure 1 is a composite measure of three sub-measures: why was this particular normalization of sub-measures (i.e., ranking) used? Why was this particular aggregation method (i.e., summation) used? What are the upsides and downsides of this and other approaches? For example, "the flow of dollars" would have a long right tail, which is obliterated when transformed to a rank. Is this a good or bad thing and why?
 
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*      Measurement is often reductive (in the sense that they constitute a mapping from a high-dimensional, potentially complex space, to a far simpler space). What is left out? Is it important? In part this translates to discussing the difference between the conceptual phenomenon and how it is operationalized?
 
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*      Might a measure be systematically biased or lead to bias if implemented?
 
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*      Tests of the effects of using a framework on various outcomes.
 
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In summary, more skepticism about the usefulness of the metrics and the framework, and more empiricism is necessary.
 
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==Files==
 
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The files are in:
 
 
  E:\projects\MeasuringHGHTEcosystems
 
  E:\projects\MeasuringHGHTEcosystems
 
  /bulk/vcdb4
 
  /bulk/vcdb4
 +
Egan (2021) - A Framework for Assessing Municipal High-Growth High-Tech Entrepreneurship Policy.pdf
 +
 +
Production files (sent to ResPol):
 +
*MeasuringHGHTEntrepreneurshipEcosystemsV4-6-2.tex
 +
*MeasuringHGHTEntrepreneurshipEcosystemsV4-6-2-TitlePage.tex
 +
*References.bib
 +
*HoustonPipelineV4.png
 +
*HoustonVCRaiseRateWithBenchmarkV4.png
 +
*econ.bst
  
 
==Notice==
 
==Notice==
  
−
This paper was broken into two:
+
The original Measuring HGHT Entrepreneurship Ecosystems paper was broken into two:
−
*Measuring HGHT Entrepreneurship Ecosystems: This now contains the definitions, measures, and example. It is an informal, by-example theory paper.
+
*:'''A Framework for Assessing Municipal High-Growth High-Technology Entrepreneurship Policy''' now contains the definitions, measures, and examples. It is an inductive, case-study paper.
 
*[[Determinants of Future Investment in U.S. Startup Cities]]: The empirical analysis of ESOs is now in this paper!
 
*[[Determinants of Future Investment in U.S. Startup Cities]]: The empirical analysis of ESOs is now in this paper!
  
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==Data and Analysis==
 
==Data and Analysis==
  
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The paper will use [[vcdb4]] and [[US Startup City Ranking]], as well as a wealth of old McNair material. Sources include (copied to the project folder unless otherwise noted):
+
The paper uses [[VCDB20]] and [[US Startup City Ranking]], as well as a wealth of old McNair material. Sources include (copied to the project folder unless otherwise noted):
 
*[[Hubs]]: Hubs Data v2_'16.xlsx
 
*[[Hubs]]: Hubs Data v2_'16.xlsx
 
*[[Federal Grant Data]], including NIH, NSF and other grant data, especially SBIR/STTR. Possibly also contract data.  
 
*[[Federal Grant Data]], including NIH, NSF and other grant data, especially SBIR/STTR. Possibly also contract data.  

Latest revision as of 14:47, 30 November 2024

Final Version

  • The final version was accepted to Research Policy on May 17th, 2021.
  • The 50-day share link is: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1d8SaB5ASINVf
  • The title was changed to "A Framework for Assessing Municipal High-Growth High-Tech Entrepreneurship Policy"

The BibTeX reference is (pending update with volume and number): 

@article{EGAN2021104292,
  title = {A framework for assessing municipal high-growth high-technology entrepreneurship policy},
  journal = {Research Policy},
  pages = {104292},
  year = {2021},
  issn = {0048-7333},
  doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2021.104292},
  url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733321000937},
  author = {Edward J. Egan},
  keywords = {Entrepreneurship, Ecosystem, Measurement, High-growth high-technology, Venture capital, Ecosystem support organization, Pipeline, Raise rate, Policy cartel},
  abstract = {This paper advances a framework for making rudimentary need, impact, and cost–benefit assessments of municipal high-growth high-tech entrepreneurship policy. The framework views ecosystem support organizations like accelerators, incubators, and hubs as components in a city’s venture pipeline. A component’s pipeline size, raise rate, and cost per raise measure its performance. In total, the framework consists of eight objective and reproducible measures based on quantities and qualities of venture capital investment and 16 definitions of related terms-of-the-art. These measures and definitions are illustrated in 26 real-world policy examples, which assess initiatives in Houston and St. Louis over the last 20 years. The examples reveal an enormous variation in welfare effects, and some policies appear welfare destroying. Many non-profit organizations claim success (and win awards and acclaim) using non-standard measures despite performing at less than half benchmark levels. Policy cartels, which control startup policy in many U.S. cities, also engage in non-market actions to protect their rents.}
}

The final file series was v4-6-2 in: 

E:\projects\MeasuringHGHTEcosystems
/bulk/vcdb4
Egan (2021) - A Framework for Assessing Municipal High-Growth High-Tech Entrepreneurship Policy.pdf

Production files (sent to ResPol):

  • MeasuringHGHTEntrepreneurshipEcosystemsV4-6-2.tex
  • MeasuringHGHTEntrepreneurshipEcosystemsV4-6-2-TitlePage.tex
  • References.bib
  • HoustonPipelineV4.png
  • HoustonVCRaiseRateWithBenchmarkV4.png
  • econ.bst

Notice

The original Measuring HGHT Entrepreneurship Ecosystems paper was broken into two:

  • A Framework for Assessing Municipal High-Growth High-Technology Entrepreneurship Policy now contains the definitions, measures, and examples. It is an inductive, case-study paper.
  • Determinants of Future Investment in U.S. Startup Cities: The empirical analysis of ESOs is now in this paper!

Research Policy Special Issue

This paper is for a Special Issue of Research Policy, organized by/for the UMM grant cohort. The deadline for submission is Nov 30th, 2019. See: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/research-policy/call-for-papers/uncommon-methods-and-metrics

Examples of questions that papers could address are:

  1. What fundamental constructs or elements might constitute a theory or theoretical base for the geographically defined entrepreneurial ecosystem?
  2. What are general definitions of entrepreneurial ecosystems so that entrepreneurial ecosystems can be measured in a consistent way across all sectors?
  3. What key relationships need to be captured at the entrepreneurial ecosystem level?
  4. How should the impact of local entrepreneurial ecosystems on economic growth at the national level be measured?
  5. Whose performance (and what) should be measured? Should researchers look at a mix of short- and long-term measures?
  6. Do existing rankings for entrepreneurial ecosystems measure what they claim to measure?
  7. To what extent are entrepreneurial ecosystems and innovation related?
  8. What are the salient levels of analysis (e.g., cultural, institutional, spatial) to consider when analyzing entrepreneurial behavior?How do the characteristics of entrepreneurial ecosystems vary by country?
  9. By which mechanisms do entrepreneurial ecosystems get established, mature, decline, or get renewed?
  10. What are the trade-offs between attracting entrepreneurs to a city, and solving urban problems such as affordable housing?
  11. Under what circumstances could a university be considered an ecosystem, and how does this interact with entrepreneurial ecosystems?What are more finely grained evaluations of the effectiveness of policy instruments that capture connections and ties across entrepreneurial ecosystems?
  12. To what extent is government policy accelerating or inhibiting the progress of entrepreneurial ecosystems?

Data and Analysis

The paper uses VCDB20 and US Startup City Ranking, as well as a wealth of old McNair material. Sources include (copied to the project folder unless otherwise noted):

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