Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Essays In Entrepreneurship, Innovation And Labor, Andres Gonzalo Hincapie Norena

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I explore the role of experimentation on the career choices of individuals deciding whether to be paid employees or entrepreneurs, and on the decisions of consumers deciding what medical treatment to buy. In the labor market, experimentation entails the accumulation of information that allows individuals to improve their occupational choices. In the product market, experimentation entails discovering the quality of new products and it may have an effect on the evolution of technology: less experimentation by individuals may slow down the process of innovation. I start in Chapter 2 with the observation that most individuals do not start a business …

Entrepreneurship In Off-Label Drug Prescription: Just What The Doctor Ordered!, Raymond March

Faculty Publications

This paper finds that physicians and pharmaceutical companies working as entrepreneurial actors were able to better serve patients by finding effective alternative uses of three drugs. I examine off-label drug prescription within an entrepreneurial framework by examining the development processes of aspirin, Viagra, and minoxidil. In each case, the medical community reached research and treatment conclusions quicker than the FDA did. These examples provide counterevidence to the view that off-label prescription is reckless and requires additional governmental oversight due to a lack of sufficient testing

Regulatory Entrepreneurship, Elizabeth Pollman, Jordan M. Barry

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines what we term “regulatory entrepreneurship” — pursuing a line of business in which changing the law is a significant part of the business plan. Regulatory entrepreneurship is not new, but it has become increasingly salient in recent years as companies from Airbnb to Tesla, and from DraftKings to Uber, have become agents of legal change. We document the tactics that companies have employed, including operating in legal gray areas, growing “too big to ban,” and mobilizing users for political support. Further, we theorize the business and law-related factors that foster regulatory entrepreneurship. Well-funded, scalable, and highly connected …

How Mobile Phones Can Spark An Entrepreneurial Revolution, Alison Choe

Scripps Senior Theses

In the last decade, there has been an exponential rise in mobile phones in both developed and developed countries. In light of that, this paper investigates whether the expansion of such mobile networks leads to increased entrepreneurial activity. By conducting panel regressions, I find the degree to which various stages of entrepreneurial activity is affected by increased mobile phone subscription rates. I use data from 80 countries from 2007 to 2015 and parse out the different effects between developing and developed countries, and between males and females. I find that larger mobile networks encourage entrepreneurship, particularly in the early stages, …

The Impact Of Marketization On Entrepreneurship In China: Recent Evidence, Yang Zhou, Joshua C. Hall

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

While marketization has been linked to provincial-level economic growth in China, how marketization leads to growth has not been explored. We hypothesize that marketization creates an environment that encourages entrepreneurship, which manifests itself in economic growth. While this argument is not new, it has not been explored in the Chinese context. We fill this gap by empirically testing the relationship between marketization and measures of entrepreneurship across Chinese provinces. Our primary measures of entrepreneurship are level changes in the number of “private enterprises” and “self-employed individuals”. We find that higher levels of marketization are positively related to higher levels of …

The Gender Gap In Immigrant Entrepreneurship: The Role Of Culture And Home Country Self-Employment, Amy Ingram

CMC Senior Theses

This paper investigates the effect of culture and home country self-employment rates on immigrant self-employment in the United States, post-migration. This study analyzes the effects for both men and women, focusing on the gender gap in self-employment. The empirical results show that home country effects have a small impact on self-employment, but most of this relationship is unexplained. Because the explanatory power of home country effects is so low, it is unlikely that culture significantly influences self-employment. I find that, contrary to my hypotheses, women from countries with high female self-employment rates are likely to see a larger decrease in …

The Fear Factor: Determinants Of Entrepreneurial Fear Of Failure, Pema Donyo

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis aims to investigate determinants of fear of failure in entrepreneurial activity that could inhibit starting a business. The study uses cross-sectional, pooled OLS, and panel regressions. The dependent variable is fear of failure regarding entrepreneurship, measured with the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey question of whether fear of failure would prevent the responder from starting a firm. The unit of analysis is at country level. I categorize determinants into demographic, property rights, and procedural variables. A population of higher working age ratio (measured as the population aged 15-64 divided by the population aged 65 and over) correlates with …

Examining Poverty, Entrepreneurship, And Multinational Corporation Participation In South Africa, Stephanie Furlough-Morris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Economic development is seen as the best means of accomplishing the goal of eradicating extreme poverty, and at the heart of this development are for-profit companies, especially multinational corporations. The specific problem examined in this study was whether levels of poverty in South Africa had been significantly impacted by the activities of multinational corporations and the level of entrepreneurship in its 9 provinces. To build upon empirical research on the sources of poverty alleviation and the impact of large global enterprises, the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of entrepreneurship and multinational corporation presence on the change …

Capabilities, Human Development, And Design Thinking: A Framework For Gender-Sensitive Entrepreneurship Programs, Tonia Warnecke

Faculty Publications

This paper discusses the ways that capabilities and human development theory can guide the creation of entrepreneurship programs, utilizing a framework of human-centered design thinking. It is well known that a variety of institutional factors shape gender outcomes and gender inequality within entrepreneurship, particularly with regard to necessity versus opportunity entrepreneurship and informal versus formal sector entrepreneurship. Failure to understand the diversity of entrepreneurial activity among women, and the connection (or lack thereof) of such activity to human freedom, leads to biased entrepreneurship programs. This paper links social economic theory and practice by: (1) discussing the ways that capabilities and …

On Being An Entrepreneur: The Nigerian Perspective, Olayinka K. Binuomoyo

Young African Leaders Journal of Development

It is common knowledge that the success of an economy rests on the strength of its entrepreneurs. Present-day challenges make it imperative for countries in the same bracket as Nigeria to deemphasize reliance on oil and government for social crumbs, to embrace innovative activities and deepen small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are important drivers of economic growth but they face significant challenges as obtained in Nigeria where infrastructures such as power, transportation and financing needed to make entrepreneurship work seldom exists. With a high unemployment rate, young Nigerians are required to embrace entrepreneurship. The aim of this paper is …

Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Global Asset For National Development., Sunday Alewo Omale, Kate Obianuju Chima

Bullion

This paper appraised the outcome of Entrepreneurial Orientation on national development . Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) deals with the level in which nations or firms strategically educate its citizens or members to promote entrepreneurial culture to gain economic benefits. EO entails dimensions of innovation, proactiveness and risk taking. It is held that entrepreneurial orientation is required for a successful national development. innovativeness ls the predisposition to engage in creativity and experimentation through the introduction of new products/ services as well as technological leadership and advancement. To drive home the aims of this investigation, relevant data were sourced from management journals, bulletin …

Reconsidering The Regional Economic Development Impacts Of Higher Education Institutions In The United States., Joshua Drucker

Joshua Drucker

"My Friends, They Are People To Rely On": The Social Foundation Of Business In Ghana, Patrick D. Shulist

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The management and entrepreneurship literatures increasingly engage in poverty alleviation research in the developing world. However, there is a marked tendency to overlook how the Western World, from where most theory comes, differs from the developing world. Such a fallacy has potential deleterious effects on the research itself, but more importantly on the practical applications of that research.

With this in mind, my dissertation uses an inductive qualitative methodology to explore the nature of self-employment in the developing world as it is; that is, not coloured by theoretical priors. In doing this, I lay the groundwork for understanding the …

Let There Be Light: Social Enterprise, Solar Power, And Sustainable Development, Tonia Warnecke

Faculty Publications

Energy poverty is a major problem in the developing world, with nearly 1.3 billion people lacking household electricity. Strikingly, the electrification rate is not only low, but is falling in many countries as population growth outpaces efforts to give more people access to electricity. Seizing the opportunities presented by rapid changes in technology and the availability of renewable energy at continually falling costs, social enterprises have begun to light the darkness and fill in the gap between the public and private provision of electricity. We review the extent of energy poverty and explain why neither the public, nor the private …

A Complement, Not A Competitor: How Public Markets Can Support Business Districts In Worcester, Ron M. Barron

Sustainability and Social Justice

The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible economic and community development impacts of entry-level public markets (e.g. fixed location markets, farmers markets, etc.) on the communities in which they operate. While there is extensive literature around their benefits to vendors, community health and public space, there is comparative little on the interplay between these markets and more traditional brick and mortar businesses. The background and definition of these markets, the basic common characteristics that define them, and some of the benefits they can offer for economic and community development are each explored. It then examines two different …

Social Capital, Culture, And Institutions As Determinants Of Entrepreneurship In A Development Context, Daniel Nikolic

Undergraduate Economic Review

Entrepreneurship is still a social term that scholars have difficulty defining, and a lack of consistency in theory in turn leaves researchers without an accurate way to measure entrepreneurial activity. A working definition and theory of the entrepreneur is provided as a way to synthesize the various multi-disciplinary approaches taken towards entrepreneurship in past literature, with emphasis on welfare and judgmental decision-making under uncertainty. Past studies find significant relationships between economic growth and the level of entrepreneurial activity in a country. Little is known, however, on which elements of a society contribute to entrepreneurship and which do not. This study …

The Quality Of Jobs Created By Entrepreneurs, Adam Seth Litwin, Philip Phan

Adam Seth Litwin

Few dare to challenge the conventional wisdom that small business is the engine of job creation. Indeed, in the United States, the image of the small business owner left largely unfettered to create novel products and services sits on the same cultural plane as baseball and apple pie, and one would be hard-pressed to find a policymaker who would openly question the wisdom that most new jobs arise either directly or indirectly from these small businesses. This near religious belief in the small business owner as job creator yields a steady stream of policies offering tax relief to small businesses, …

2016-2 Occupational Choice, Human Capital, And Financial Constraints, Rui Castro, Pavel Ševčík

Centre for Human Capital and Productivity. CHCP Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Trashé Designs: A Social Enterprise, Cara Walden

MA IDS Thesis Projects

During my years in graduate school, my understanding of economic inequality has further expanded. While my experience in the Peace Corps and Nepal allowed me to see it in real life, my time in school has allowed me to ground these experiences in academic literature. By means of an action research project, my goal is to create economic opportunity for the HIV/AIDS community in Chiang Mai, Thailand, through the creation of the social enterprise Trashé Designs. A social enterprise is a way to address a social challenge with a market-based solution. My social enterprise, Trashé Designs, uses recycled materials to …

Northeast Indiana Entrepreneurial Opportunity Survey Analysis, Ziona Austrian, Merissa Piazza, Eli Auerbach, Sunjoo Park, Joan Chase

Ziona Austrian

This survey report is associated with "Northeast Indiana Regional Analysis: Demographics, Economy, entrepreneurship and Innovation"

Northeast Indiana Entrepreneurial Opportunity Survey Analysis, Ziona Austrian, Merissa Piazza, Eli Auerbach, Sunjoo Park, Joan Chase

Ziona Austrian

This survey report is associated with "Northeast Indiana Regional Analysis: Demographics, Economy, entrepreneurship and Innovation"

Economic Growth And The Optimal Level Of Entrepreneurship, Catherine Bampoky, Luisa Blanco, Aolong Liu, James Prieger

Luisa Blanco

What is the “growth penalty” when a country’s entrepreneurship deviates from its optimal level? We use data on entrepreneurship for a panel of developed and developing countries over 2003-2011 to estimate growth equations. We treat the impact of entrepreneurship on real GDP growth as heterogeneous across countries. The methodology accounts for unobserved heterogeneity among countries in the optimal entrepreneurship rate and other factors affecting growth. In less developed countries, there is not enough entrepreneurship, and increases in the entrepreneurship rate have a sizeable positive effect on growth. In high income countries, entrepreneurship appears to be close to the optimum. We …

The Relevance Of Economic, Institutional And Cultural Determinants For Venture Capital Investments. A Us-Europe Comparison., Nadja Benes

Master's Theses

This study analyzes the determinants of early-stage VC investments by identifying characteristics in the economic, institutional, as well as cultural framework that could explain the diverging levels of early-stage VC investments across countries. Data was assembled for 16 countries during the period from 1995 until 2013. The results indicate that countries that are more open to trade are associated with higher levels in early-stage venture capital. A higher unemployment rate negatively affects a country’s level of early-stage VC funds. Higher R&D expenditures as a proxy for the technological and innovation capacity in a country as well as a higher value …

An Indentured Generation? The Effect Of Student Debt On Entrepreneurship In The United States, Lidia P. Medina

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper discusses the topical issue of rising student debt and the effect it has on employment decisions, particularly entrepreneurship. This paper aims to analyze this relationship using labor economic theories on investing and saving, labor decisions and risk aversion. Additionally, it discusses the role of entrepreneurship on economic growth and globalization using both historical and present-day data gathered from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997—2011), The Kauffman Research Center, and the US Department of Education.

Through The Lens Of Innovation, Mirit Eyal-Cohen

Mirit Eyal-Cohen

The legal system constantly follows the footsteps of innovation and attempts to discourage its migration overseas. Yet, present legal rules that inform and explain entrepreneurial circumstances lack a core understanding of the concept of innovation. By its nature, law imposes order. It provides rules, remedies, and classifications that direct behavior in a consistent manner. Innovation turns on the contrary. It entails making creative judgments about the unknown. It involves adapting to disarray. It thrives on deviations as opposed to traditional causation. This Article argues that these differences matter. It demonstrates that current laws lock entrepreneurs into inefficient legal routes. Using …

The Role Of Small Business: A Tale Of Two Cities, George A. Erickcek

George A. Erickcek

No abstract provided.

Promoting Self Employment Among The Unemployed In Hungary And Poland, Christopher J. O'Leary

Christopher J. O'Leary

To evaluate the effectiveness of self-employment assistance to the unemployed in Hungary and Poland more than 5,500 follow-up interviews were conducted in early 1997 by employees of local labor offices with persons in self-employment participant and comparison group samples. Wide ranging differences were observed between the demographic composition of self-employment samples and the general population of unemployed. Program effects were therefore computed as net impact estimates controlling for systematic sample selection using observable characteristics including information on job search assistance from the employment service. While self-employment assistance yielded a favorable set of net impact estimates in both countries, there was …

What Works In State Economic Development?, Timothy Bartik

Timothy J. Bartik

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Special Issue: Towards A Theoretical Understanding Of Innovation And Entrepreneurship In India, Sanjay Jain, Anil Nair, David Ahlstrom

Management Faculty Publications

Over the past few decades, India has become one of the world’s most vibrant economies (Chari & Banalieva, 2015). While the first forty years after India’s independence in 1947 was characterized by a sluggish annual growth rate (of approximately 3%), economic reforms initiated in 1991 have resulted in the GDP growing at a rate of around 6.8% in the last quarter century (Chari & Banalieva, 2015;McCloskey, 2010). Conversely, while the pre-reform institutional environment generally underemphasized and undermined entrepreneurial and innovative activity (Bardhan, 1994; Baumol, Litan, & Schramm, 2009;Sivaraman, 1991), the post-reform period has been characterized by a much wider acceptance …

Planetary Improvement: Discourses And Practices Of Green Capitalism In The Cleantech Space, Jesse Adam Goldstein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is money to be made in saving the planet. A whole host of actors, such as investors, entrepreneurs, engineers, and policy makers have mobilized around our ecological problems, seeking to innovate new `green' and `clean' technologies that can serve a rapidly changing environment. The presumption that such technologies are both necessary and necessarily profitable anchors visions of a `green' capitalism that can and must be brought into existence.

However, just as free markets have never been all that free, why should we presume that green capitalism would be all that green? Instead of attempting to arbit whether or not …