Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Introduction / Josh Lerner and Antoinette Schoar -- International perspectives on the nature of entrepreneurship -- Explaining international differences in entrepreneurship: the role of individual characteristics and regulatory constraints / Silvia Ardagna and Annamaria Lusardi -- Who are the microenterprise owners? Evidence from Sri Lanka on Tokman versus De Soto / Suresh de Mel, David McKenzie and Christopher Woodruff -- Business ownership and self-employment in developing economies: the Colombian case / Camilo Mondragón-Vélez and Ximena Peña -- Entrepreneurship and firm formation across countries / Leora Klapper, Raphael Amit, and Mauro F. Guillén -- Does less market entry regulation generate more entrepreneurs? Evidence from a regulatory reform in Peru / Sendhil Mullainathan and Philipp Schnabl -- The international Asian business success story? A comparison of Chinese, Indian and other Asian businesses in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom / Robert W. Fairlie, Julie Zissimopoulos, and Harry Krashinsky -- Are there cultural determinants of entrepreneurship? / Rajkamal Iyer and Antoinette Schoar -- International perspectives on policies towards entrepreneurship -- Entrepreneurship and credit constraints: evidence from a French loan guarantee program / Claire Lelarge, David Sraer and David Thesmar -- Government sponsored versus private venture capital: Canadian evidence / James A. Brander, Edward J. Egan and Thomas F. Hellmann -- Is entrepreneurship missing in Shanghai? / Yasheng Huang and Yi Qian.