Entrepreneurship, economic development, and institutional environment: evidence from OECD countries

Rafik Abdesselam; Jean Bonnet; Patricia Renou-Maissant; Mathilde Aubry

doi:10.1007/s10843-017-0214-3

Entrepreneurship, economic development, and institutional environment: evidence from OECD countries

Authors

Abdesselam, Rafik¹
Bonnet, Jean²
Renou-Maissant, Patricia²
Aubry, Mathilde³

¹ University of Lyon, Lumière Lyon 2, COACTIS, EA 4161, Faculty of Economics and Management, 16 quai Claude Bernard, Lyon Cedex 07, 69365, France , Lyon Cedex 07 (France)
² Faculty SEGGAT, University of Caen Normandy, NORMANDIE UNIV, UNICAEN, CNRS, CREM, esplanade de la paix, Caen, 14032, France , Caen (France)
³ Management School of Normandy, METIS Research Department, 9, rue Claude Bloch, Caen Cedex 4, 14052, France , Caen Cedex 4 (France)

Type

Published Article

Journal

Journal of International Entrepreneurship

Publisher

Springer US

Publication Date

Dec 19, 2017

Volume

Issue

Pages

504–546

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1007/s10843-017-0214-3

Source

Springer Nature

Keywords

License

Yellow

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to establish a typology of entrepreneurship for OECD countries over the 1999–2012 period. Our aim is to draw a distinction between managerial and entrepreneurial economies, to identify groups of countries with similar economic and entrepreneurial activity variables, and to determine the economic and institutional drivers of entrepreneurial activities in each group. We show that the level of development, sectoral specialization, and institutional variables related to entrepreneurship, functioning of the labor market, and openness of the country are decisive to understand differences in entrepreneurship activity across countries. Results show that the pre-crisis period, from 1999 to 2008, is a period of growth favorable to entrepreneurship. The financial crisis involved a break in entrepreneurial dynamism, with agricultural economies withstanding the financial crisis better. The 2010–2012 period of recovery is a period of a sharp slowdown in entrepreneurial activity, during which the countries that are less dependent on the financial sector proved to be the most resilient in terms of entrepreneurial activity. Nevertheless, it is the advanced knowledge economies with developed financial markets, fewer institutional regulatory constraints, and greater scope for qualitative entrepreneurship that show lower unemployment rates. These findings have important implications for the implementation of public policy in order to promote entrepreneurial activity and reduce unemployment.

Abstract