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Entrepreneurial accessibility, eudaimonic well-being, and inequality

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher J. Boudreaux

    (Florida Atlantic University)

  • Niklas Elert

    (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN))

  • Magnus Henrekson

    (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN))

  • David S. Lucas

    (Syracuse University)

Abstract

Amidst considerable debate on the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic inequality, scholarship only indirectly addresses how entrepreneurship informs individuals’ relative well-being. We theorize on the nuanced relationship between entrepreneurship and equality of eudaimonic well-being through the lens of New Institutional Economics. Drawing on theories of human flourishing, we suggest that entrepreneurial action is an underappreciated mechanism by which individuals pursue well-being. Equality of well-being is thus influenced by a society’s entrepreneurial accessibility: the freedom of individuals to choose to engage in entrepreneurial action. We present a multilevel framework in which institutional factors enable entrepreneurial action by promoting entrepreneurial accessibility—a factor, that, in turn, affects well-being for individual entrepreneurs as well as societal eudaimonic equality. The ex ante conditions for equality of well-being entail institutions that yield broad entrepreneurial accessibility. Our work highlights the institutional prerequisites for human flourishing in the entrepreneurial society beyond (unequal) economic distributions.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher J. Boudreaux & Niklas Elert & Magnus Henrekson & David S. Lucas, 2022. "Entrepreneurial accessibility, eudaimonic well-being, and inequality," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 1061-1079, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:59:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s11187-021-00569-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-021-00569-3
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    Cited by:

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    2. Milena Nikolova & Boris Nikolaev & Christopher Boudreaux, 2023. "Being your own boss and bossing others: the moderating effect of managing others on work meaning and autonomy for the self-employed and employees," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 463-483, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality; Entrepreneurship; Well-being; Institutions; Eudaimonia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth

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