“State-ification” of the Entrepreneur—Or “Entrepreneurialization” of the State? How Singapore Challenges Both Mazzucato and Her Critics

Jacob Hjortsberg ()
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Jacob Hjortsberg: Copenhagen Business School, Department of Business Humanities and Law

A chapter in A Green Entrepreneurial State?, 2026, pp 285-302 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This article reviews the debate over the “entrepreneurial state” by examining Singapore as a case that both confirms and challenges Mariana Mazzucato’s vision. Rather than adopting the entrepreneurial role while retaining conventional features of statehood, Singapore reframes governance itself as an entrepreneurial activity—what I term the “entrepreneurialization” of the state. Through an exploration of elite investment via sovereign wealth funds, mass homeownership as a tool of citizen buy-in, and the strategic deployment of “dual state legality,” the article shows how Singapore aligns both elite and popular incentives with long-term national economic performance. The result is a model in which the state does not “pick winners,” but creates an environment that attracts them. While this model is deeply context-specific and normatively contentious, it offers broader insights into how traditional domains of governance—housing, law, and public administration—can be reconceived through an entrepreneurial lens. The article concludes by suggesting that, rather than seeking to replicate Singapore wholesale, policymakers might explore how to embed entrepreneurial thinking into state functions, especially in domains like green innovation, where long-term success requires public commitment without sacrificing institutional credibility.

Keywords: Industrial policy; Government policy; Asia including Middle East; Criminal law; Contract law; Social security and Public pensions; O25; O35; O53; K12; K14; H55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:inschp:978-3-032-15512-2_16

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-15512-2_16

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