Are Historically Black Colleges and Universities an Ecosystem for Black Entrepreneurship? Some Evidence From the Brookings Institution 2022 Black Progress Index Data.

This article investigates whether Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) serve as attractors and generators of Black entrepreneurship and business ownership across U.S. counties, using the Brookings Institution 2022 Black Progress Index (BPI) data. Employing a machine-learning method called rigorous least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (RLASSO) alongside mixed effects regressions and Rubin's potential outcomes causal framework, the study finds that the presence of an HBCU in a county significantly and causally increases Black business ownership rates. The results suggest that HBCUs function as an entrepreneurship ecosystem that catalyzes Black-owned business formation and could play a substantive role in reducing racial disparities in entrepreneurship. The findings imply that increased private and public investments in HBCU entrepreneurship capacity may effectively mitigate Black-White gaps in business ownership.