Erkko Autio

This volume captures the context features of entrepreneurship and fills a gap in the measurement of development. Building on recent advances in entrepreneurship and economic development, the authors have created an index that offers a measure of the quality of the business formation process in 120 of the most important countries in the world. The authors expertly capture the contextual feature of entrepreneurship by focusing on entrepreneurial attitudes, entrepreneurial abilities and entrepreneurial aspirations. The data and their contribution to the business formation process are supported by three decades of research into entrepreneurship across a host of countries.

The Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index is a construction of individual and institutional measures that integrates 31 variables from various data sources into 15 pillars, three sub-indexes and a 'super index'. The relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development appears to be more or less mildly S-shaped. The findings suggest moving away from simple measures of entrepreneurship across countries illustrating a U-shaped or L-shaped relationship to more complex measures, which are positively related to development. The model has important implications for development policy.

This unique book will be invaluable for researchers, policymakers and entrepreneurs keen to expand their understanding of entrepreneurship and development.