Is Productive Entrepreneurship Getting Scarcer? A Reflection on the Contemporary Relevance of Baumol's Typology

Maria Minniti (), Wim Naudé and Erik Stam
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Maria Minniti: SMU Cox School of Business

No 16408, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We review Baumol's typology of productive, unproductive and destructive entrepreneurship. We argue that the typology is relevant for explaining the secular decline in business dynamics. To the existing explanations for this decline, we put forward the thesis that entrepreneurship has become less productive, due to the unintended effects of entrepreneurship policies adopted widely in Western economies. These have straight-jacketed, distracted and zombified entrepreneurship. Removing these constraints on productive entrepreneurship would require that the decline in level-two institutions, such as democracy and science, be halted and reversed.

Keywords: economic development; economic growth; entrepreneurship; institutions; Baumol (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L21 L26 L53 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2023-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-gro, nep-his, nep-ino and nep-sbm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: W. Naudé and B. Power (eds.), Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship and Conflict, Elgar, 2024, 18 - 44

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