Measuring Entrepreneurship : Building a Statistical System

Entrepreneurship is playing an increasingly important role in the political agenda. Thisphenomenonis dueto theincreasingin?uenceofpolitics ontheentrepreneurial promotion of growth and employment objectives. This results in the need to satisfy the new demand for statistical information in two ways. On the one hand, quanti- tive information -stock and ?ow analysis, on the other hand, qualitative information –which tries to assess the ability to create wealth and employment and to innovate and export, among others. Consequently, searching a systematic set of indicators that allows us to understand the basic entrepreneurshipdimensions in order to di- nose, forecast,andmonitorentrepreneurialnetworks,is crucial forboththe research agenda and the political action agenda. However, the lack of this kind of statistical information is clear if we review some statistical subsystems on entrepreneurship on a comparison basis. The few essays on the subject are still in an initial stage. The reference theoretical framework to set the key dimensions to be analysed is to be established yet. The search for indicators and even the articulation of speci?c statistics have become crucial in order to make progressin the applied research, and to design, implement, and assess the different measurements of public intervention on this subject. Thus, the developmentof a set of indicatorsthat allow us to satisf- torily capture the different dimensions of the entrepreneurial network for a speci?c sector or territory becomes a basic element to assist progress in entrepreneurship knowledge.

This volume provides a comprehensive review of the theoretical concepts and empirical models of entrepreneurship from a non-conventional perspective. Its main purpose is to contribute to the design of an efficient system of indicators of entrepreneurship and competitiveness. The existence of a gap between the theory of entrepreneurship and the methods and data available for testing its main propositions has been widely recognized. Hence, some of the most prestigious researchers have collaborated to review and develop the statistical sources, indicators and proxies currently available for empirical studies on the phenomena of entrepreneurship.

The book thereby makes recent advances in the theory and application of the economics of entrepreneurship accessible to a wider audience, including policy makers, emphasizing data requirements to advance the future research agenda and to allow for a better design and monitoring of entrepreneurial policy.