This volume presents studies from experts in twelve industries,
providing insights into the future role of innovation and
entrepreneurship in driving economic growth across sectors.
We live in an era in which innovation and entrepreneurship seem
ubiquitous, particularly in regions like Silicon Valley, Boston, and the
Research Triangle Park. But many metrics of economic growth, such as
productivity growth and business dynamism, have been at best modest in
recent years. The resolution of this apparent paradox is dramatic
heterogeneity across sectors, with some industries seeing robust
innovation and entrepreneurship and others seeing stagnation. By
construction, the impact of innovation and entrepreneurship on overall
economic performance is the cumulative impact of their effects on
individual sectors. Understanding the potential for growth in the
aggregate economy depends, therefore, on understanding the
sector-by-sector potential for growth. This insight motivates the twelve
studies of different sectors that are presented in this volume. Each
study identifies specific productivity improvements enabled by
innovation and entrepreneurship, for example as a result of new
production technologies, increased competition, or new organizational
forms. These twelve studies, along with three synthetic chapters,
provide new insights on the sectoral patterns and concentration of the
contributions of innovation and entrepreneurship to economic growth.
