Rugged individualism, natural disasters, and inter-county variation in entrepreneurial activity

Building on the negative to mixed effects of natural disasters on entrepreneurial activity, we posit that regional rugged individualism attenuates the decline in business activity following natural disasters. We find that greater property damage from natural disasters in the presence of greater rugged individualism does not affect the establishment entry rate. However, it lowers the decline in establishment exit rates and the job reallocation rate decline by small effect sizes (0.3%). The findings show that regional individualism in the face of natural disasters does not increase entrepreneurial activity but abates the decline in entrepreneurial activity.