This isn’t enough information about the study to tease out cause and effect. There may be a third confounding variable that positively impacts both entrepreneurship growth and Starbucks growth.

For instance, what if Starbucks only decides to move into neighborhoods that have reached a certain level of economic growth (ie number of households, number of business, etc…)? Neighborhood economic growth would likely attract entrepreneurs as well, and we wouldn’t be able to conclude that Starbucks had anything to do with entrepreneurship growth.

Said a different way, would adding Starbucks in the middle of the Atacama desert grow Peruvian entrepreneurs? I mean come on it’d be the only third space around!

I can’t read the full paper because I don’t have a subscription, but the fact that they don’t call this out in the abstract makes me doubt it’s a meaningful conclusion.

Or cities that were growing had a Starbucks join up? I highly doubt people get enthusiastic and start working because a “Starbucks” (specifically) opened up in the neighborhood.

I wonder if it's more free wifi and an air conditioned/heated room than anything else.