SECA Booklet Nr. 8 - Determinants of entrepreneurial activity and success

Entrepreneurs are in many ways the engine of economic growth and progress.  With their ideas and activities, they are responsible for the constant reallocation of resources to higher-valued uses.  Not surprisingly, the entrepreneurship phenomenon attracts the keen attention of scholars, practitioners, and public policymakers alike.  Two issues among many stand out in the resulting debate, namely what induces individuals to become entrepreneurs, and the importance of luck in shaping entrepreneurial success.  Those are the questions addressed here.