Title: Proposing a predictive model of individual micro-entrepreneurship in Brazilian metropolitan areas through multiple linear regression

Authors: Gabriel Marcuzzo do Canto Cavalheiro

Addresses: Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Rua Mário Santos Braga s/n, Campus do Valonguinho, Prédio 2 da Faculdade de Administração, 7o andar, Centro, 24020-140, Niterói, RJ, Brazil

Abstract: Entrepreneurship is widely acknowledged to be a phenomenon of central importance in our society. Within the arena of entrepreneurship policy, a more specific trend has been an increase in recent years in individual micro-entrepreneurship. However, although a period of more than ten years has passed since the implementation of the Individual Micro Entrepreneur Act in Brazil, which became known as MEI's Law 128/2008, literature remains silent on patterns regarding the relationship between the registration of individual micro-entrepreneurs, as one-person companies, with data related to the educational attainment of the population, income, and level of regional economic activity. Therefore, this article seeks to contribute to filling the knowledge gap in the entrepreneurship literature using empirical evidence integrated from the Brazilian Tax Authority (RFB) and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). In total, data was collected corresponding to 234 municipalities located in urban areas. The result shows that the regression model provides a good fit concerning model assumptions. The number of individual micro-entrepreneurs in metropolitan areas in Brazil could be predicted on a city level based on independent variables associated with population size and educational level of the population.

Keywords: individual micro-entrepreneurship; multiple linear regression; public policy; regional development; Brazil.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPLAP.2024.135198

International Journal of Public Law and Policy, 2024 Vol.10 No.1, pp.17 - 31

Received: 16 May 2022
Accepted: 05 Aug 2022
Published online: 02 Dec 2023 *