Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, PSED II, United States, 2005-2011

The Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) research program was designed to longitudinally examine the startup process with multi-year cohort tracking, so as to enhance the scientific understanding of how individuals start businesses. The project provided data on the process of business formation based on nationally-representative samples of nascent entrepreneurs, those active in business creation. PSED I (available from ICPSR as study 37203) began with screening in 1998-2000 to select a cohort of 830 with three follow-up interviews. The panel participants were identified prior to launch of their firms and were tracked through gestation, launch and eventual growth or death of the firm. A control group of those not involved in firm creation were available for comparisons. PSED II began with screening in 2005-2006, followed by six yearly interviews. The information obtained as part of the PSED research program included data on the nature of those active as nascent entrepreneurs, the activities undertaken during the start-up process, and the characteristics of start-up efforts that become new firms. The PSED II data included as part of this collection includes: Dataset 1 and 2: Screener Data (58 variables, 31,845 cases) Dataset 3 and 4: Waves A-F plus Screener Data (7,821 variables, 1,214 cases) Demographic variables included as part of this collection comprises age, race, ethnicity, gender, household income, educational attainment, employment status, marital status, citizenship, household characteristics, and business characteristics.