SUPPORTING ECONOMIC GROWTH WITH THE INNOVATION-ORIENTED ENTREPRENEURSHIP

This article aims to examine whether any causal relationships exist among different types of entrepreneurial activity and economic growth. The theory and some empirical evidence proved positive outcomes of entrepreneurial activity, but mixed evidence on the role of entrepreneurship in economic growth. For the purposes of empirical testing, a longitudinal analysis was employed for 24 differently developed countries to estimate the relationship between different types of entrepreneurial activity and GDP growth rate, controlling for the impact of countries’ developmental stage and time. The data were obtained from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor database and complemented with data from other international sources. The results confirmed that entrepreneurship activity, especially innovation- -oriented one, is correlated with economic growth, but this relationship is influenced by the economy’s developmental stage as well as by specific characteristics of certain years included in the analysis. Our results indicate that governmental interventions cannot be the same for all countries; rather, they have to be adjusted to the specific developmental stage of the national economy and type of entrepreneurship.