Building Winners? An Empirical Evaluation of Public Business Assistance in the Founding Process Volume 4 Jena Economic Research Papers 2010-04-25 2010 2007 2010-025 entrepreneurship business assistance policy evaluation entrepreneurial resources big five This paper investigates economic and subjective effects of public business assistance delivered to nascent entrepreneurs in Germany. Employing cluster analysis, we explore the actual scope and intensity of business assistance used. Then we analyze predictors of take-up and perceived usefulness taking into account the different patterns of utilized assistance. Finally, we assess economic effects by studying subsequent business performance employing propensity score matching. We cannot reveal that business assistance translates into better start-up performance. However, we find that a lack of personal entrepreneurial resources predicts take-up of business assistance in general as well as perceived usefulness of comprehensive business assistance. jportal_jpjournal_00000016 2010-05-03T11:54:48.672Z 2010-12-17T11:54:19.107Z