Entrepreneurship Policy: Theory and Practice

Entrepreneurship Policy: Theory and Practice is the first book to fully analyze the construction of entrepreneurship policy, a rapidly-evolving area of policy about which little is known. From a study and assessment of the practices of governments in thirteen countries in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region, this book fully describes the policy area and shares new tools and methods for better understanding and explaining the how and why of an entrepreneurship policy approach.

The work features a number of new methods which can be used to analyze and assess policy gaps and opportunities for future actions in the area and for understanding the most appropriate mix of policy options. Methods of note include the entrepreneurship policy comprehensiveness index and the context method. It presents a conceptual model describing the many factors which affect, in a dynamic way, the level of entrepreneurship in a country or region. It also describes a typology of entrepreneurship policy which will be useful to others in categorizing their policy approaches.

Unlike other research in the field of entrepreneurship where implications from research findings are used to suggest what policy actions should be taken to increase the level of entrepreneurship in an economy, this study is based on what entrepreneurship policy actions are being taken. This is a unique book in the field in that it points the way forward both for policymakers and for the research community in terms of thinking about entrepreneurship policy and the complex issues surrounding its development.