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