The Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index both captures the context features of entrepreneurship and fills a gap in the measurement of development. Building on recent advances in entrepreneurship and economic development, the authors have created an index that offers a measure of the quality of the business formation process in 79 of the most important countries in the world. Zoltan J. Acs and Laszlo Szerb expertly capture the contextual feature of entrepreneurship by focusing on entrepreneurial attitudes, entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial aspirations. The data and their contribution to the business formation process are supported by three decades of research into entrepreneurship across a host of countries. The unique index construction of individual and institutional measures integrates 31 variables from various data sources into 14 pillars, three sub-indexes and a 'super index'. The relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development appears to be more or less mildly S-shaped. The findings suggest moving away from simple measures of entrepreneurship across countries illustrating a U-shaped or L-shaped relationship to more complex measures, which are positively related to development. The model has important implications for development policy.

This unique book will be invaluable for researchers, policy makers and entrepreneurs themselves keen to expand their understanding of entrepreneurship and development.

Contents: Foreword: Entrepreneurship and Global Growth (Jack Goldstone) Preface Introduction to the 2012 Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (with Erkko Autio) 1. The Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index 2. Entrepreneurship and Economic Development 3. Methodology and Data Description 4. Country Standings