China’s development under the Chinese Communist Party’s rule challenges the conventional understanding of the correlation between wealth and democracy that the more well-to-do a society, the more likely it will democratize and business owners will be driving such political changes. Despite the unprecedent growth and prosperity over the past decades, the authoritarian system has neither collapsed not embraced democracy. Instead, the one-party rule has remained stable and the business owners complacent, which invites the question of why China’s economic liberalization has not created a business class who are not advocates of political change. This chapter aims to answer this question by looking into the interactions between the party-state and private business owners. It argues that the state–business relationship in China is one of interdependence, where the business owners depend on the party-state for business success and the party-state depends on business owners for economic growth.

It would be remiss to have a discussion of innovation without addressing the role that entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship can play in it. To begin that discussion, we turn first to Schumpeter’s early work and its enthusiastic (almost theatrical) celebration of the entrepreneur and Baumol’s historical analysis of what it is about our current economic system that leads entrepreneurship to take particularly productive forms and not the unproductive and destructive forms that might have dominated earlier epochs. Then, we problematize. With Gans et al., we explore what conditions might contribute to entrepreneurship spurring Schumpeter’s gale of Creative Destruction and think about why any rational entrepreneur would even attempt to do so. To close the chapter, Nightingale & Coad lay bare the counterintuitive argument that entrepreneurs, for all the bravado and cultural celebration, typically really don’t do that much. Much of what most people believe to be true about entrepreneurs, it turns out, is just a result of survivorship biases and other methodological problems.

Micro- and small enterprises (MSEs) represent the majority of businesses in most countries around the world. Despite the economic relevance of MSEs, most jurisdictions do not provide a suitable insolvency framework for MSEs. This chapter starts by analyzing the particular features of MSEs as well as the need to provide them with a simplified insolvency framework. It then discusses the solutions and policy recommendations that the academic literature and various international organizations have suggested for the design of a simplified insolvency regime for MSEs. This chapter concludes by proposing several pillars for the design of an efficient insolvency framework for MSEs in the context of emerging economies.

This chapter provides an entrepreneur-led theory of American early Pacific imperialism. The central argument is that changes in commodity prices provided incentives for American imperialism. It outlines how price changes encourage imperialism through a sequence of three mechanisms: price, threat, and lobbying. The price mechanism posits that commodity rushes led American entrepreneurs to relocate overseas. The threat mechanism describes the turn from entrepreneurs into lobbyists. The lobbying mechanism describes how entrepreneurs built support for their imperial schemes. In making these arguments, the chapter highlights the structural differences between American and European empires in the mid-nineteenth century by drawing comparisons to economic theories developed to explain European empires.

Why did the United States establish an early American Empire in the Pacific (1856-1898)? This chapter first discusses the conventional wisdom that focuses on the role of naval power, trade with China, and missionaries. It shows that these explanations are unable to explain patterns of American imperialism in the Pacific. It then introduces a theory of entrepreneurs and highlights the contributions that an entrepreneurial theory makes to International Relations scholarship, including to theories of empire, territorial expansion, and contemporary struggles for recognition for indigenous peoples in the Asia-Pacific.

Whereas most books emphasize cases of expansion, this chapter focuses on cases in which the United States does not expand. These cases - Fiji, Kiribati, Tahiti, Tokelau, and Tuvalu- challenge grand narratives of America’s path in the Pacific. The islands had strategic value, large markets, and souls to save. Yet, there was little if any interest from the US government in annexation. Using a structured, focused comparison, we attribute these instances of non-expansion to three causes: an island lacks commodities or labor for the entrepreneur to exploit; the entrepreneur dies or is arrested before the imperial lobby matures; or the entrepreneur establishes themselves in territories already controlled by foreign empires who can offer protection from local threats. These cases are interesting, brief stories about the American commercial experience abroad that have been ignored by scholars of American imperialism.

Chapter 1 immerses the reader into the Za'atari refugee camp. Situated in Jordan just seven and a half miles south of the Syrian border, the camp – a two-square-mile rectangle divided into twelve districts – is nestled in the very heart of the Middle East. Here, in the desert heat, a community was born in the swell of crisis. The reader is immediately introduced to the book's three featured Syrian women entrepreneurs – Yasmina, Asma, and Malak – in their elements. Yasmina, a salon and wedding dress shop owner, is relaxing in the salon with her family as her client celebrates a beautiful wedding a couple of districts away. Asma, a social entrepreneur and teacher, is reading a story to a group of children – including three of her own – in her trailer, which she has converted into a magical hideout for the children. Malak, an artist, is putting the finishing touches on a series of drawings for an event at a youth center that is meant to encourage the girls in Za'atari to push against the harmful practice of child marriage.

Chapter 12 features the three entrepreneurs discussing their hopes for the future. Despite its progress, Za'atari still faces significant challenges in terms of basic resources and opportunities. So each entrepreneur represents a different hope. Yasmina, as the oldest of the group, discusses the ultimate hope within residents: that there will be lasting peace in Syria and they can return home. Asma considers another hope many have: resettlement to new communities. She talks about her potential resettlement to Canada after recently being interviewed at the embassy in Amman, and what it would mean for her children to have more consistent, higher quality education. Malak discusses the hope that, even if she is to remain in Za'atari for long, it will be better resourced so all children will have the opportunity to realize their God-given gifts. Her most recent painting of a woman, covered in vibrant colors and looking upward, represents this hope – as she accepts her life in Za'atari for now and sees her purpose as living out her gifts boldly as a role model for the children around her. In this spirit, the book ends with a poem by Asma about the hopes and dreams of Za'atari.

Chapter 4 provides an overview of today’s global refugee crisis, driven by perspectives of refugees around the world. The Syrian war has displaced a stunning half of Syria’s prewar population, with nearly 80,000 of those Syrians having fled to nearby Za'atari; the UN calls it “the biggest humanitarian and refugee crisis of our time.” But it is only a part of a broader global crisis: today, more people than at any other time in history have been forcibly displaced from their homes. More than twenty-six million refugees, over half of whom are children, have fled their home countries entirely. This chapter provides a brief exploration of the major crises causing displacement, from instability in Central America and Afghanistan, to the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar, to wars in South Sudan and Yemen. And it considers where most refugees end up: in host cities, in refugee camps, and – unfortunately only on rare occurences – resettled permanently in adoptive cities. It discusses how, due to continuing conflicts and tightening restrictions on acceptance of refugees, refugee camps are increasingly becoming like permanent settlements, despite their intended role as temporary safe havens.

Chapter 9 is about the present impact of the three entrepreneurs’ ventures, alongside many others, on the Za'atari community. A far cry from its makeshift origins, Za'atari is now much like a city. The Shams-Élysées, the Saudi Market, and other areas are buzzing as more than 3,000 businesses generate about $13 million in revenue a month and serve community members. These include bird shops, a cinema, sustainable farming solutions, and, of course, the ventures launched by Yasmina, Asma, and Malak. Yasmina is bringing profound joy into the lives of women across Za'atari. She helps brides feel special, valued, and beautiful, sometimes after a long period of feeling forgotten. Asma is uplifting Za'atari's children to reach for their highest aspirations. Much to her delight, her apprentice Nawara creates her own version of the storytelling initiative that is widely attended. In addition to running her studio with Treza, Malak repeatedly uses her art to empower the children around her, especially on the issue of child marriage. She designs twenty powerful drawings that are presented to girls during a workshop, empowering them to push back against such arrangements.