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Entrepreneurship Policies

Principles, Problems, and Opportunities

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Public Policies for Fostering Entrepreneurship

Part of the book series: International Studies in Entrepreneurship ((ISEN,volume 22))

Abstract

The purpose of the current chapter is to discuss and assess the above questions. The chapter is organized as follows: In Sect. 6.2 we discuss the economic problems facing economic agents intending to start or expand a business or to let their business leave the market. The question of the optimal rate of entry, growth, and exit of businesses is discussed in Sect. 6.3. The issue of market failures is dealt with in Sect. 6.4. We then turn to policy failures in Sect. 6.5. Our conclusions are presented in Sect. 6.6.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In a parallel process, developing countries in particular in Asia have gained comparative advantages in the same industries.

  2. 2.

     In the entrepreneurship literature there is much focus on the entrepreneur as an individual. By using the more general concept of an economic agent, we stress that the entrepreneur can also be a group of people, a firm, or a group of firms.

  3. 3.

    Carree et al. (2002) provide theoretical and empirical evidence of a long-term U-shaped relationship between the stage of economic development of an economy and the equilibrium rate of entrepreneurship.

  4. 4.

    Given that the level of entrepreneurship in an economy influences economic, productivity and employment growth (Karlsson and Nyström 2007), governments may of course based upon political goals define their own “optimal” levels of entrepreneurship.

  5. 5.

    “The importance of institutions for the development of entrepreneurship is paramount and deserves further study.” (Carree and Thurik 2003, p. 465)

  6. 6.

    6Often these problems are compounded with market distortions in the credit market.

  7. 7.

    Since knowledge, which involves new ideas, at least partly is a public good, its production generates externalities, which are more accessible close to the source.

  8. 8.

    Other sources of economies of scale are distribution networks, R&D laboratories, etc.

  9. 9.

    For early surveys, see Mueller (1976).

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Karlsson, C., Andersson, M. (2009). Entrepreneurship Policies. In: Baptista, R., Leitao, J. (eds) Public Policies for Fostering Entrepreneurship. International Studies in Entrepreneurship, vol 22. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0249-8_6

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