A SYSTEM-LEVEL VIEW OF INSTITUTIONS: CONSIDERATIONS FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND POVERTY

Abstract

Poverty levels represent an important indicator of economic development. A widely-held view among scholars is that formal institutions provide the foundation to support entrepreneurial activity that, when robust, can support economic development. Scholars typically examine the influence of specific formal institutions, such as property rights, tax policies, infrastructures, or otherwise. Herein, I seek to complement and build upon this extant research by elaborating a system-level view of institutions. Interfaces, tradeoffs and externalities are discussed as three key characteristics of institutional systems alongside system-level considerations for each of these characteristics (i.e., institutional coordination, cooperation and direction that can take place at interfaces; institutional imbalances that can occur with tradeoffs; and institutional ambiguities and territoriality that can exist because of externalities). I then describe how these system-level considerations influence entrepreneurial activities and the implications for poverty in two illustrative contexts: base-of-the-pyramid markets and entrepreneurial ecosystems. I conclude with a discussion of the intended contributions and implications of this work.