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Billionaires

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Tino Sanandaji
  • Peter T. Leeson

Abstract

Existing studies of entrepreneurship focus on entrepreneurs whose individual contribution to wealth creation is typically trivial: self-employed persons. This article investigates entrepreneurs whose individual contribution to wealth creation is enormous: billionaires. We explore the relationship between economic development, institutions, and these contrasting kinds of entrepreneurs. We find that the institutions consistent with self-employed entrepreneurs differ markedly from the ones consistent with billionaires. Further, only the latter are consistent with the institutions that underlie economic prosperity. Where well-protected private property rights and supporting, market-enhancing institutions flourish, so do billionaires. But self-employed entrepreneurs do not. Where private property rights are weakly protected and interventionist institutions flourish, so do self-employed entrepreneurs. But billionaires do not. Copyright 2013 The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC., Oxford University Press.

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/icc/dts052
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Article provided by Oxford University Press in its journal Industrial and Corporate Change.

Volume (Year): 22 (2013)
Issue (Month): 1 (February)
Pages: 313-337

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Handle: RePEc:oup:indcch:v:22:y:2013:i:1:p:313-337
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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
  • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
  • L53 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Enterprise Policy
  • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements

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  1. Paul Reynolds & Niels Bosma & Erkko Autio & Steve Hunt & Natalie De Bono & Isabel Servais & Paloma Lopez-Garcia & Nancy Chin, 2005. "Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: Data Collection Design and Implementation 1998–2003," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 205-231, 02.
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  3. Anna L. Paulson & Robert M. Townsend & Alexander Karaivanov, 2006. "Distinguishing Limited Liability from Moral Hazard in a Model of Entrepreneurship," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(1), pages 100-144, February.
  4. Steven J. Davis & Magnus Henrekson, 2010. "Economic Performance and Market Work Activity in Sweden After the Crisis of the Early 1990s," NBER Chapters,in: Reforming the Welfare State: Recovery and Beyond in Sweden, pages 225-252 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Marco Cagetti & Mariacristina De Nardi, 2004. "Taxation, entrepreneurship, and wealth," Staff Report 340, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
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  7. Edward L. Glaeser & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "Legal Origins," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 117(4), pages 1193-1229.
  8. repec:hrv:faseco:30728041 is not listed on IDEAS
  9. Wennekers, Sander & van Stel, André & Carree, Martin & Thurik, Roy, 2010. "The Relationship between Entrepreneurship and Economic Development: Is It U-Shaped?," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 6(3), pages 167-237, July.
  10. Simeon Djankov & Yingyi Qian & Gérard Roland & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2006. "Who Are China's Entrepreneurs?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 348-352, May.
  11. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson, 2010. "Gazelles as job creators: a survey and interpretation of the evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 227-244, September.
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  13. Magnus Henrekson & Tino Sanandaji, 2011. "Entrepreneurship and the theory of taxation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 167-185, September.
  14. Blanchflower, David G & Oswald, Andrew J, 1998. "What Makes an Entrepreneur?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 26-60, January.
  15. André Stel & David Storey & A. Thurik, 2007. "The Effect of Business Regulations on Nascent and Young Business Entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 171-186, March.
  16. Christopher J. Coyne & Peter T. Leeson, 2004. "The Plight of Underdeveloped Countries," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 24(3), pages 235-249, Fall.
  17. Estrin, Saul & Korosteleva, Julia & Mickiewicz, Tomasz, 2009. "Better Means More: Property Rights and High-Growth Aspiration Entrepreneurship," IZA Discussion Papers 4396, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  18. Aidis, Ruta & Estrin, Saul & Mickiewicz, Tomasz, 2009. "Entrepreneurial Entry: Which Institutions Matter?," CEPR Discussion Papers 7278, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  19. Robin Douhan & Magnus Henrekson, 2010. "Entrepreneurship and second-best institutions: going beyond Baumol’s typology," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 629-643, August.
  20. Fonseca, Raquel & Lopez-Garcia, Paloma & Pissarides, Christopher A., 2001. "Entrepreneurship, start-up costs and employment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 692-705, May.
  21. Marianne P. Bitler & Tobias J. Moskowitz & Annette Vissing-Jørgensen, 2005. "Testing Agency Theory with Entrepreneur Effort and Wealth," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 539-576, 04.
  22. Barton H. Hamilton, 2000. "Does Entrepreneurship Pay? An Empirical Analysis of the Returns to Self-Employment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(3), pages 604-631, June.
  23. Peter T. Leeson, 2008. "Escaping Poverty: Foreign Aid, Private Property, and Economic Development," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 23(Spring 20), pages 39-64.
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Cited by:

  1. Thomas Åstebro & Pontus Braunerhjelm & Anders Broström, 2013. "Does academic entrepreneurship pay?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 281-311, February.
  2. Aloys Prinz, 2016. "Do capitalistic institutions breed billionaires?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1319-1332, December.
  3. Rider, Christopher I. & Thompson, Peter & Kacperczyk, Aleksandra & Tåg, Joacim, 2013. "Experience and Entrepreneurship," Working Paper Series 970, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
  4. Esteban Lafuente & László Szerb & Zoltan J. Acs, 2016. "Country level efficiency and national systems of entrepreneurship: a data envelopment analysis approach," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(6), pages 1260-1283, December.
  5. Zoltán J. Ács & Mark W. J. L. Sanders, 2015. "Knowledge spillover entrepreneurship in an endogenous growth model," Chapters,in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 10, pages 174-194 Edward Elgar Publishing.
  6. Andrea Asoni & Tino Sanandaji, 2014. "Taxation and the quality of entrepreneurship," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 113(2), pages 101-123, October.

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