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Billionaires

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  • Leeson, Peter

    (George Mason University)

  • Sanandaji, Tino

    (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN))

Abstract

Existing studies of entrepreneurship focus on entrepreneurs whose individual contribution to wealth creation is typically trivial: self-employed persons. This paper 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 di¤er 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 don't. Where private property rights are weakly protected and interventionist institutions flourish, so do self-employed entrepreneurs. But billionaires don't.

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  • Leeson, Peter & Sanandaji, Tino, 2012. "Billionaires," Working Paper Series 893, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0893
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    1. David J. Miller & Zoltan J. Acs, 2017. "The campus as entrepreneurial ecosystem: the University of Chicago," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 75-95, June.
    2. Back, Yujin & Praveen Parboteeah, K. & Nam, Dae-il, 2014. "Innovation in Emerging Markets: The Role of Management Consulting Firms," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 390-405.
    3. Thomas Åstebro & Pontus Braunerhjelm & Anders Broström, 2013. "Does academic entrepreneurship pay?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(1), pages 281-311, February.
    4. Christopher I. Rider & Peter Thompson & Aleksandra Kacperczyk & Joacim TÃ¥g, 2019. "Experience and Entrepreneurship: A Career Transition Perspective," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 72(5), pages 1149-1181, October.
    5. Mthanti, Thanti & Ojah, Kalu, 2017. "Institutions, Human Capital and Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO): Implications for Growth Strategy," MPRA Paper 89551, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Andrea Asoni & Tino Sanandaji, 2014. "Taxation and the quality of entrepreneurship," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 113(2), pages 101-123, October.
    9. Åstebro, Thomas & Chen, Jing, 2014. "The entrepreneurial earnings puzzle: Mismeasurement or real?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 88-105.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Billionaires; Entrepreneurship; Self-employment; Institutions;
    All these keywords.

    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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