How Strategic Entrepreneurship and The Institutional Context Drive Economic Growth

The economics of growth has shown that countries grow by better allocating whatever resources are at their disposal and by introducing productivity-enhancing innovations. Strategic entrepreneurship plays a key role in this process by searching for, combining, trying out, etc., new resource combinations in the pursuit of profits under uncertainty. Institutions that support economic freedom allow such experimentation to take place at low transaction costs, positively influencing total factor productivity. We test these ideas on a unique panel data set derived from Compendia, World Bank data, and the Fraser Institute's economic freedom data. Copyright © 2013 Strategic Management Society.