The Age of Entrepreneurship

Robert J. Bennett is Professor Emeritus and Research Director in Geography at the University of Cambridge, UK. His research covers SME policy, economic development and the history of entrepreneurship, chambers of commerce, and business associations. His recent publications include Entrepreneurship, Small Business and Public Policy (2014) and papers in multiple journals, including Business History. Harry Smith is a Research Associate at the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, UK. He is a historian with interests in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century social and economic history, entrepreneurship and the history of class and towns (especially Birmingham). He has published articles in journals, including Business History and Midland History. Carry van Lieshout is a Research Associate at the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, UK. She is a historical geographer with interests in gender, entrepreneurship and natural resources. She has published articles in various journals, including The London Journal and Geopolitics. Piero Montebruno is a Research Associate at the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, UK. He holds a PhD in economic geography and is a trained medical doctor with interests in entrepreneurship, surrogacy, and slums, and heavy-tailed distributions. He has published articles in journals, including Business History. Gill Newton is a Research Associate at the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, UK. She is a data scientist whose interests include large-scale datasets and demographic behaviour, mortality and the occupational structure of nineteenth-century Britain. She has published widely in population history and its methodologies.

Part 1: New methods to interpret historical trends 1. Entrepreneurship over time 2. Entrepreneurship in theory and historical practice 3. New insights from historical big data Part 2: Overview of trends 4. Proprietor numbers, aggregate trends and sector change 5. Business size and organisation Part 3: Understanding entrepreneurship at the individual level 6. Explaining entrepreneurship: Correlates and decision choices 7. Demography, the household and entrepreneurship 8. Gender 9. The geography of entrepreneurship 10. Migration 11. Portfolio businesses 12. Conclusion: Re-positioning the entrepreneur in history and the present day