The effect of new ventures compared internationally

Analysis of the effect of new ventures on the economy has been widely investigated in the last decade. However, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) international research organization was the first to provide a consistent, comparable estimation of entrepreneurial activity over nations. The study describes the main findings of the GEM research over the 2001-3 period, focusing on Hungary. For the two most important measures - the Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) and Firm Entrepreneurial (FEI) indices, Hungary is in the middle range of participating countries. Its situation compares well within the Central and Eastern European region - Croatia, Poland, Russia and Slovenia - and comes out slightly better than the EU average. Since the formation effect of new firms on economic growth and employment creation outweighs that of existing firms five to six times over, new firms should receive greater emphasis in Hungarian policy towards entrepreneurship.