The role of a public venture capital program in state economic development: An evaluation of Kansas Venture Capital, Inc

A popular state-level program to encourage the starting and development of small businesses is publicly funded or publicly assisted venture capital. This study evaluated the impact of the public venture capital program Kansas Venture Capital Inc. on 23 Kansas-based businesses. Counter-factual techniques, using alternative growth scenarios, were applied to measure the impact of the program in terms of job creation among the businesses. Cost estimates for each new job created from the program were estimated under each scenario. In addition, a duration model was used to determine whether the program increased the likelihood of survival for those firms receiving investments from the program.; Overall, Kansas-based businesses receiving public venture capital funds outperformed their industry and similar Kansas businesses in job creation. In addition, the cost estimates for each job created varied according to the underlying assumptions of the alternative growth scenario. Kansas-based businesses receiving public venture capital funds experienced an increase in survival time when compared to similar Kansas-based businesses without funds. Kansas Venture Capital Inc. was a successful public venture capital fund and would serve as a quality economic development program.