NIMBY effect, mortgage payments and firm size: the different impact of homeownership on new businesses

This empirical paper aims at integrating two recent and related research streams: the consensus about a negative effect of homeownership on new businesses (usually explained by the so-called ‘Not In My Back Yard' effect) and the negative impact of homeownership with mortgage payments on business start-up. Using a cross-section analysis in Italy, we find a first empirical evidence of a different impact of homeownership on new businesses according to the firm size. Precisely, the (negative) NIMBY effect works for medium- and large-sized enterprises, while outright homeownership has a positive effect on new small firms; instead, the negative effect of mortgage payments on business start-up concerns small firms.