Page 98 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

The Drivers of Regional Entrepreneurship in Rural and Metro Areas 87

Figure 5.4. Entrepreneurial Depth: Income

County, Nebraska, to $152,000 in New York County, New York. The limi-
tation of the income measure is that these data include both part-time and
full-time proprietors, so the metric may be skewed by the ratio of propri-
etors whose income only partially supports their lifestyle.
The geographic pattern of proprietor income suggests that entrepre-
neurial depth is strongest in densely populated areas. Proprietors in met-
ropolitan counties had higher annual income than their rural peers.
With an average proprietor income of $19,056, metropolitan counties
had an above-average LQ of 1.09. The LQs for micropolitan and town
counties were 0.59 and 0.53, respectively, and were well below the na-
tional average as average proprietor income was $15,956 and $14,256.
Average proprietor income was lower than average wage and salary in-
come in all county types, underscoring the fact that some entrepreneurs
pursue their craft on a part-time basis. The higher metropolitan propri-
etor incomes reflect both the higher costs of living in urbanized areas
along with the higher opportunity cost of forgoing traditional wage and
salary employment to pursue entrepreneurial activities. In this sense, the
“hurdle rate” for metropolitan entrepreneurs is higher than that of their
rural counterparts.

Entrepreneurial Value-Added
An alternative measure of entrepreneurial depth is the value the entre-
preneur contributes to their product or service. This value-added metric