The 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have made the authorities to increasingly
turn inward and use ethnocentrism protectionism and top-down approaches to guide policy on
trade competition and industrial development. The continuing aftereffects of such policies
range from the rise and seeming success of authoritarian states rise of populist and
protectionist trends and evolving academic agendas inspiring the reemergence of top-down
industrial policies across the world.This open access edited volume contains contributions from
over 30 scholars with expertise in economics innovation management and economic history. The
chapters offer unique theoretical and empirical contributions discussing topics such as how
industrial policies affect risk incentives and information for investments. They also address
the policy perspectives on new technologies such as AI and its implications for market entry
the role for independent entrepreneurship in increasingly regulated markets and whether
governments should focus on market interventions or institutional capacity-building.
Questioning the Entrepreneurial State initiates a much sought-after debate on the notion of an
Entrepreneurial State. It discusses the dangers of top-down approaches to industrial policy
examines lessons from such approaches for future policy design and calls attention to the
progress of open and contestable markets in a sound economy and society. Creative destruction
innovation and entrepreneurship are at the core of economic growth. The government has a clear
role to provide the basic fabric of a dynamic society but industrial policy and state-owned
companies are the boulevard of broken dreams and unrealized visions. This important message is
convincingly stated in Questioning the Entrepreneurial State. Anders Borg former Minister of
Finance Sweden Misreading the dynamism of American entrepreneurship European intellectuals
and policy makers have embraced a dangerous fantasy: catching up requires constructing an
entrepreneurial state. This book provides a vital antidote: The entrepreneur comes first: The
state may support. It cannot lead. Amar Bhidé Thomas Schmidheiny Professor of International
Business Tufts University This important new book subjects the emergence of the
entrepreneurial state which reflects a shift in the locus of entrepreneurship from the
individual to the public sector to the scrutiny of rigorous analysis. The resulting concerns
flaws and biases inherent in the entrepreneurial state exposed are both alarming and sobering.
The skill and scholarly craftsmanship brought to bear in this crucial analysis is evident
throughout the book along with the even but ultimately consequential thinking of the authors.
A must read for researchers and thought leaders in business and policy.David Audtretsch
Distinguished Professor Ameritech Chair of Economic Development Indiana University
