Public-sector entrepreneurship

Abstract

We define public-sector entrepreneurship as having three distinct components: actions that are innovative, that transform a status quo social and economic environment, and that are characterized by uncertainty. While the literature on public-sector entrepreneurship dates to the mid-1960s, the scholarly foundations on which public-sector entrepreneurship is based date to the writings of Cantillon and Baudeau in the mid- and late-1700s and to Schumpeter in the late-1930s and early-1940s. After summarizing the academic and policy literatures on public-sector entrepreneurship, we illustrate the concept using examples of public-sector initiatives. We conclude the paper with an emphasis on the dynamic nature of public-sector entrepreneurship, and we offer insight into additional areas to which the concept applies as well as policy suggestions for incentivizing further public-sector entrepreneurial actions.