Baumol’s Productive, Unproductive and D...

In 1990 William J. Baumol published his seminal paper ‘Entrepreneurship: Productive, Unproductive and Destructive’. Discussing the relationship between entrepreneurial activities and macroeconomic prosperity, he provided easy-to-follow, yet revolutionary insights. In the present paper I reflect on these central points and evaluate their importance for research. This reflection is based on own reasoning as well as a comprehensive study of literature. As I will show, Baumol’s at first sight straightforward argumentation lines yield complex issues to be discussed. Systematically elaborating on them I provide a reflection of an entrepreneurship classic and a review of related literature.