The Dynamics of Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Data

Why are some individuals more entrepreneurial than others? What types of institutional environments are more conducive to entrepreneurship? Does entrepreneurship contribute to the growth of a country? Answering these questions is particularly important at a time when governments all over the world are looking to entrepreneurship as a way to increase employment and the competitiveness of their countries. The chapters in this volume cover topics such as entrepreneurial motivation, gender and migration, entrepreneurial financing, urban entrepreneurship, growth-oriented entrepreneurship, economic growth, and regional entrepreneurship policies. Each chapter is based on data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. The GEM project collects detailed and comparable data on representative population samples in more than 60 countries. No other existing book provides such a coherent global view of entrepreneurship and its implications. Other studies use a hodge-podge of data from different sources to study entrepreneurship. The data used to support the different parts of a given argument are not always consistent with one another or easily compared. The scientific validity of such empirical findings is limited as the various pieces of evidence do not belong to the same puzzle. Therefore, the coherence of a universal approach is lost and important aspects of the entrepreneurial process may be overlooked or undervalued. This volume, on the other hand, tests all theoretical arguments against the same empirical data, all the pieces fit into the same puzzle and a coherent and unitary picture of entrepreneurial activity, from its causes and motivations to its macroeconomic impact and implications, emerges.