Jon Lieber &Lucas Puente, PhD

2015 Thumbtack.com SmallBusiness Friendliness Survey:

Methodology & Analysis

Survey Overview

We polled over 17,000 smallbusinesses on Thumbtack about:

The level of support they receive fromtheir state and local governments.Their beliefs about a variety of publicpolicy issues.Information about their background andbusiness.

Grading Methodology

With this information, we assigned gradesto 36 states and 95 cities on 11 dimensions:

Overall small businessfriendlinessEase of starting a smallbusinessEase of hiring a newemployeeOverall regulatoryfriendlinessAvailability of helpfultraining or networkingprograms

Friendliness of:Health and safetyregulationsEmployment,labor, and hiringregulationsTax codeLicensingregulationsEnvironmentalregulationsZoning regulations

State Ratings: Overall Friendliness

Most and Least Friendly Cities and States

States Cities

Top TenBest-Ranked

1. Texas 1. Manchester, NH2. New Hampshire 2. Dallas, TX3. Utah 3. Richmond, VA4. Louisiana 4. Austin, TX5. Colorado 5. Knoxville, TN6. Idaho 6. Nashville, TN7. Tennessee 7. Houston, TX8. Virginia 8. Fort Collins, CO9. Georgia 9. Boulder, CO

10. Kansas 10. San Antonio, TX

Bottom FiveWorst-Ranked

1. Rhode Island 1. Hartford, CT2. Illinois 2. Albuquerque, NM3. Connecticut 3. Buffalo, NY4. California 4. New Haven, CT5. New York 5. Providence, RI

Research Questions

1. What do small businesses wantmost from their state and localgovernments?

2. How do different policy measuresaffect perceptions about governmentfriendliness?

Analytical Methodology

1. Use dominance analyses todetermine which policies contributemost to friendliness evaluations.

2. Use ordinal logistic regressions tounderstand how improving policiesaffects overall friendliness.

Most Important Policies For States’ Friendliness

Most Important Policies For Cities’ Friendliness

Effect of Training Opportunities on Friendliness

Effect of Government Websites on Friendliness

Effect of Licensing Compliance on Friendliness

Regulation & Overall Friendliness

The Effects of Regulatory Friendliness on Overall Friendliness:

Other Factors’ Effects on Friendliness

Conclusions

1. Government activity can help. 3 effectiveways to improve friendliness:

Offer helpful training programs.Provide easy to use websites.Facilitate licensing compliance.

2. Regulations affect overall friendlinessacross the board.

3. Tax rates and complexity matter, but areamong the least important factors tosmall businesses.

thumbtack.com/survey