ENTERPRISING BEHAVIOR AND THE URBAN-RURAL SHIFT

The paper presents and discusses new evidence on the nature and causes of the urban-rural shift of business activity and employment in Engla nd, derived from a matched pairs survey of over 1000 manufacturing and service businesses in remote rural, accessible rural and urban settle ments. It reveals faster employment growth in rural firms, highlights the migration origins of and environmental influences on rural firm fo unders, and identifies significant urban-rural differences in the ente rprising behaviour of companies. The implications of these findings fo r a new theoretical understanding of the reasons for the urban-rural s hift are explored.