UNU-WIDER Book Launch: Entrepreneurship and Economic Development

Speaker: Wim Naudé, Senior Research Fellow, UNU-WIDER

Discussant: Robert Strom, Director of Research and Policy at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Entrepreneurship and economic development is currently a ‘hot’ topic. Although much is expected of entrepreneurship, it remains however a misunderstood terrain.  This book, the outcome of a two year UNU-WIDER project on building entrepreneurial capacity clarify this relationship focusing on four broad sets of issues:

• What is the nature of economic development and its relationship with various concepts of entrepreneurship ?

• What are the main concerns and issues in the measurement of entrepreneurship in relation to development?

• What can we learn from the wider availability of data on entrepreneurship in developing countries, and

• How is the relationship between the state and entrepreneurship evolving?

The various chapters in this book provide evidence of a richly dynamic area of research, and emphasizes the importance of institutions for understanding how entrepreneurs can play their innovative, Schumpeterian role to the greatest benefit of society. A central message is that understanding institutional-entrepreneurial interactions—even beyond the traditional theatre of the nation state and the national economy—remains a defining challenge. This book offers an exciting contribution to highlight the state of the art and stimulate the research and policy making agenda.

The New York launch of this publication comes at an time when global development prospects have been dimmed by rising food prices, debt crises and fiscal austerity in advanced economies, threats of currency wars, and the dangers of climate change. More and more, citizens in developing countries are relying on innovative private sector driven initiatives to get by. At the launch Dr Wim Naudé, editor of the book, will explain with reference to its various chapters, why the encouragement of entrepreneurship is important, why the state has a vital role to play, and what can be done to ensure that innovative and productive entrepreneurship flourish. The discussant is Dr Robert Strom, director research of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

At the New York book launch, from left to right: Professor William Baumol (New York University), the discussant Dr Robert Strom (Ewing Marion Kaufmann Foundation), Dr. Jean-Marc Coicaud (UNU-ONY) and Dr. Wim Naudé (editor of the book).