Entrepreneurship, economic growth and the role of institutions: lessons from Greece 

Many scholars have attempted to understand the role of entrepreneurship in economic growth over the years, and many believe that entrepreneurship is beneficial for economic growth. For some time, entrepreneurship and institutions in Greece have also been the focus of academic research. However, there remains a gap in understanding how changes in the institutional framework brought about by various economic crises have influenced entrepreneurial activity. Greece has been badly hit by the economic crisis, the roots of which can be traced back to the 1950s when the Greek state was attempting to rebuild its infrastructure and industrial base following the Second World War and the Civil War.  

In the context of Greece's unstable political and economic situation, our study investigates the potential impact of entrepreneurship on the country's economic growth in the post-Second World War framework, also taking into account the role of institutions such as the banking system, the legislation determining property rights and the system of taxation. In the course of the period under examination here, Greece went through a multitude of economic, financial, and political crises. The latest economic and political crisis the country experienced from 2008 onwards promoted extensive debate on entrepreneurship as a key to solving Greece's problems. Especially in light of the current post-COVID recovery context, this research will offer insights into how entrepreneurship can function as a vehicle to overcome crises, promote economic growth, and investigate the extent to which institutions mediate or moderate the relationship. This will be among the first studies to investigate how entrepreneurship impacts economic growth from a historical perspective, considering the role of formal and informal institutions.   

This study is funded by the Brunel Research Initiative and enterprise fund (BRIEF) 2022/23 Brunel Business School. It is an ongoing research collaboration among researchers from Brunel University, the University of Birmingham and the University of Wolverhampton. If you would like to find out more about the research, please get in touch with the researchers: 

Researchers’ profile 

Dr Zoi Pittaki 

Zoi.Pittaki@brunel.ac.uk

https://www.brunel.ac.uk/people/zoi-pittaki 

Dr Sharin McDowall-Emefiele 

s.t.mcdowall-emefiele@bham.ac.uk

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/business/mcdowall-emefiele-sharin.aspx 

Dr Samia Mahmood 

samiamahmood@wlv.ac.uk 

https://researchers.wlv.ac.uk/samiamahmood