Entrepreneurial attitude and economic growth: A cross-section of 54 regions

In the literature factors like entrepreneurial ability, regional innovative potential, and entrepreneurial human capital are emphasized in explaining the economic success of regions. Using the European Values Studies (EVS) dataset on norms and values in 54 European regions, we distinguish values that characterise self-employed, which enables us to construct a regional aggregate that reflects the average score on entrepreneurial attitude. We show that regions differ in entrepreneurial attitude, and that a high score on entrepreneurial characteristics is correlated with a high rate of regional economic growth. In this way we empirically establish the link between culture and economy at the regional level.