What Does "Entrepreneurship" Data Really Show?

Zoltan J. Acs, (), Sameeksha Desai () and Leora F. Klapper ()

No 2008-007, Jena Economic Research Papers in Economics from Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Planck-Institute of Economics, Thueringer Universitaets- und Landesbibliothek

Abstract: We compare two "entrepreneurship" datasets: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) captures early-stage entrepreneurship and World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey (WBGES) captures business registration. GEM data is higher in developing economies than WBGES data, but this reverses in developed countries. We find differences related to local institutional conditions, after controlling for economic development. A possible explanation is WBGES measures formal entry, whereas GEM measures intent. This can be interpreted as the spread between individuals who could potentially operate businesses in the formal sector - and those that actually do. Our findings suggest entrepreneurs in developed countries have greater ease and incentives to incorporate.

Keywords: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor; World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey; entrepreneurial intent; formal business registration; entry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O17 O50 Y10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent
Date: Written 2008-01-30
View citations in EconPapers

Downloads: (external link)
http://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/receive/jportal_jparticle_00096656 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: What does “entrepreneurship” data really show? (2008)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Jena Economic Research Papers in Economics from Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Planck-Institute of Economics, Thueringer Universitaets- und Landesbibliothek
Series data maintained by Markus Pasche ().