Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Human Flourishing
Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Human Flourishing
Henrekson, Magnus.IDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc; St. Louis, 2014.
Abstract
This essay uses Edmund Phelps new book Mass Flourishing: How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs,Challenge,
and Change (Princeton University Press, 2013) as inspiration to discuss innovation and entrepreneurship. The book
is laudable for its discussion of what constitutes a “good life”. Phelps argues that true life satisfaction cannot be
achieved through a purposeless quest for wealth and material consumption, but rather through adventure,
entrepreneurship or creative endeavors. Weaknesses of the book include a overly glossy characterization of the
period before WW II, a niggardly evaluation of European innovation and the lack of convincing empirical evidence
for the claim that the rate of innovation has slowed. These flaws are regrettable given the importance of the book´s
main message: Innovation and creative entrepreneurship are not merely the keys to economic growth, but to life
satisfaction as well. This essay discusses topics in entrepreneurship research linked to the book, including the link
between innovation and entrepreneurship, the role of institutions for entrepreneurship, and the tendency of
national accounts to under-record the social value of innovation and entrepreneurship. If the measures used do not
capture the full social value of innovation, we are likely to underestimate the genuine rate of innovation.
Government policy may also be misguided.
