Entrepreneurship Capital Types and Economic Growth: International Evidence

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effect of entrepreneurship capital types on economic growth. We use an augmented Cobb-Douglas production function, which introduces variables such as entrepreneurship capital into the analysis of growth as endogenous factor. We differentiate our work from the previous studies by using panel data analysis, with 43 countries in the period from 2002 to 2012, and different measures of entrepreneurship capital. Our estimations suggest that these measures have a positive effect on economic growth, specifically overall TEA and opportunity TEA. Distinguishing between groups of countries and periods of time, we find that overall TEA has a greater effect on economic growth in OECD countries and in the post-crisis period for all the countries in our sample. These results suggest new elements to both theoretical discussion and public policy focusing on entrepreneurship capital as an important factor to achieve economic growth.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship capital, entrepreneurial activity, economic growth, cross-country analysis, panel data