Max Keilbach

Bio: Max Keilbach is an academic researcher from Max Planck Society. The author has contributed to research in topics: Entrepreneurship & Capital (economics). The author has an hindex of 23, co-authored 52 publications receiving 6242 citations. Previous affiliations of Max Keilbach include Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung.

Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth

Abstract: Public policy spanning a broad range of contexts, ranging from the European Union, to states, cities and local communities around the globe, has turned to entrepreneurship to provide the engine for economic growth, competitiveness in globally linked markets, and jobs. This book explains why entrepreneurship has emerged as a bona fide instrument of growth policy. The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship suggests that entrepreneurship provides a crucial mechanism in the process of economic growth by serving as a conduit for knowledge spillovers. Investments in new knowledge and ideas may not automatically spill over and result in commercialization, as has typically been assumed in models of economic growth. Rather, the existence of what is introduced as the knowledge filter impedes the spillover and commercialization of investments in new ideas and knowledge. By penetrating the knowledge filter and facilitating the spillover of knowledge that might otherwise not be commercialized, entrepreneurship provides the missing link to economic growth. This new focus of entrepreneurship as a conduit transmitting the spillover of knowledge generates a series of theoretical propositions, involving not just the impact of entrepreneurship on economic performance and growth, but also the very nature of entrepreneurship. The theoretical propositions range from positing that entrepreneurial opportunities are not exogenously given but rather endogenously and systematically created by investments in new knowledge and ideas, to the importance of geographic proximity between entrepreneurial activity and knowledge sources, the impact of location on entrepreneurial performance, and the new roles for board, managers and modes of finance in entrepreneurial firms accessing and absorbing knowledge spillovers. These propositions are subjected to systematic econometric scrutiny and verification using both aggregate data to analyze the links between entrepreneurship and growth, as well as firm-level data to analyze the impact of knowledge spillover on entrepreneurial location, performance, boards, managers and mode of finance. The resulting empirical evidence supports the knowledge spillover of entrepreneurship not only by linking entrepreneurship to economic growth and performance, but also by identifying how the organization and strategy of entrepreneurial firms are influenced by the need to access, absorb and commercialize external knowledge spillovers. The book concludes that the new millennium may not be so much about the process of Joseph Schumpeter's creative destruction, where entrepreneurial startups displace and ultimately drive incumbent company's out of business, but rather characterized by creative construction. Globalization and its concomitant outsourcing and offshoring is the source of the "destruction", especially in terms of lower skilled jobs. By contrast, in the 21st century global economy, entrepreneurship is constructive by commercializing investments in knowledge and ideas that might never have been commercialized but ultimately result in growth, global competitiveness and employment. Thus, the emergence of entrepreneurship policy can be interpreted as the attempt to generate entrepreneurial based economic growth by creating an entrepreneurial economy.

Entrepreneurship Capital and Economic Performance

Abstract: The neoclassical model of the production function, as applied by Robert Solow to build the neoclassical model of growth, linked labour and capital to output. More recently, Romer and others have expanded the model to include measures of knowledge capital. In this Paper we introduce a new factor, entrepreneurship capital, and link it to output in the context of a production function model. This Paper explains what is meant by entrepreneurship capital and why it should influence economic output. A production function model including several different measures of entrepreneurship capital is then estimated for German regions. The results indicate that entrepreneurship capital is a significant and important factor shaping output and productivity. These results suggest a new direction for policy that focuses on instruments to enhance entrepreneurship capital.

Entrepreneurship Capital and Economic Performance

Abstract: Audretsch D. B. and Keilbach M. (2004) Entrepreneurship capital and economic performance, Regional Studies38, 949-959. The neoclassical model of the production function, as applied by Solow when building the neoclassical model of growth, linked labour and capital to output. More recently, Romer and others have expanded the model to include measures of knowledge capital. This paper introduces a new factor, entrepreneurship capital, and links it to output in the context of a production function model. It explains what is meant by entrepreneurship capital and why it should influence economic output. A production function model including several different measures of entrepreneurship capital is then estimated for German regions. The results indicate that entrepreneurship capital is a significant and important factor shaping output and productivity. The results suggest a new direction for policy that focuses on instruments to enhance entrepreneurship capital. Audretsch D. B. et Keilbach M. (2004) Le capital en...

The Theory of Knowledge Spillover Entrepreneurship

Abstract: The prevailing theories of entrepreneurship have typically revolved around the ability of individuals to recognize opportunities and then to act on them by starting a new venture. This has generated a literature asking why entrepreneurial behaviour varies across individuals with different characteristics while implicitly holding constant the external context in which the individual finds herself. Thus, where the opportunities come from, or the source of entrepreneurial opportunities, is also implicitly taken as given. By contrast, in this paper an important source of entrepreneurial opportunities is identified – knowledge and ideas created in an incumbent organization. By commercializing knowledge that otherwise would remain uncommercialized through the start-up of a new venture, entrepreneurship serves as a conduit of knowledge spillovers. According to the theory of knowledge spillover entrepreneurship, a context with more knowledge will generate more entrepreneurial opportunities. By contrast, a context with less knowledge will generate fewer entrepreneurial opportunities. Based on a data set linking entrepreneurship to the knowledge context, empirical evidence is provided that is consistent with the proposition that entrepreneurial opportunities are not exogenous but rather systematically created by investments in knowledge by incumbent organizations.

The Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship

Abstract: Contemporary theories of entrepreneurship generally focus on the recognition of opportunities and the decision to exploit them. Although the entrepreneurship literature treats opportunities as exogenous, the prevailing theory of economic growth suggests they are endogenous. This paper advances the microeconomic foundations of endogenous growth theory by developing a knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship. Knowledge created endogenously results in knowledge spillovers, which allow entrepreneurs to identify and exploit opportunities.

The Effect of Entrepreneurial Activity on National Economic Growth

Abstract: Entrepreneurial activity is generally assumed to be an important aspect of the organization of industries most conducive to innovative activity and unrestrained competition. This paper investigates whether total entrepreneurial activity (TEA) influences GDP growth for a sample of 36 countries. We test whether this influence depends on the level of economic development measured as GDP per capita. Adjustment is made for a range of alternative explanations for achieving economic growth by incorporating the Growth Competitiveness Index (GCI). We find that entrepreneurial activity by nascent entrepreneurs and owner/managers of young businesses affects economic growth, but that this effect depends upon the level of per capita income. This suggests that entrepreneurship plays a different role in countries in different stages of economic development.