ABSTRACT
Entrepreneurship research has consistently found that children and grandchildren of parents who ran a business have a significantly higher probability of being entrepreneurs themselves. Differences in observed rates of entrepreneurship across countries are frequently attributed to differences in the scale and nature of both formal and informal institutions. Although several studies find a statistical relationship between personality traits and personal attitudes of the regional population and the level of entrepreneurship, they are unable to identify the causality of the effects. Entrepreneurship is then primarily seen as a development process at the individual level. The mutually reinforcing nature of entrepreneurship is reflected in a regional environment in which one person's decision to start a business - and be demonstrably successful - encourages others to follow, meaning that high levels of regional entrepreneurship can be self-reinforcing. M. Minniti provides an illustrative example of the relationships by modelling the interplay between individual decisions and their regional context.
