Abstract
The research on entrepreneurship as an economic phenomenon often assumes its desirability as a driver of economic development and growth. However, entrepreneurial talent can be allocated among productive, unproductive and destructive activities. This allocation has important implications in the developing world, particularly for countries hosting conflict or recovering from conflict. The allocation of entrepreneurship is theorized as driven by institutions. Although the trade-off between productive and unproductive entrepreneurship has been examined, destructive entrepreneurship has been largely ignored. We build from existing theory and define destructive entrepreneurship as wealth destroying. We propose three assumptions to develop a model of destructive entrepreneurship that presents the mechanisms through which entrepreneurial talent behaves in this manner. We present four key propositions on the nature and behavior of destructive entrepreneurship. We conclude by identifying research agendas and policy streams, with a focus on relevance to conflict and postconflict recovery.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 20-40 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Journal of conflict resolution |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Feb 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
We thank William Baumol, Stephanie Rosenkranz, Roger Stough, Frank Gunter, Wim Naudé, Johan Eklund, David Audretsch, Terrence Lyons, Mark Sanders, Mirjam van Praag, Simon Parker, Vishvanath Desai, Alex Acs, Michael Fritsch, Diemo Urbig, Sara Reeves, and Mehmet Demircioglu for comments and discussion. The authors are grateful to UNU-WIDER for research support; Sameeksha Desai is grateful to the Kauffman Foundation and Max Planck Institute of Economics for research support. We thank participants of the Ratio Institute Colloquium for Young Social Scientists, seminars at the Max Planck Institute of Economics, the UNU-WIDER research workshop on conflict and entrepreneurship, and two anonymous referees for helpful comments. Declaration of Conflicting Interests The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: the authors acknowledge financial support from UNU-WIDER.
Keywords
- allocation
- conflict
- destructive entrepreneurship
- incentives
- institutions
- postconflict recovery
- productive
- rent-seeking
- unproductive