Entrepreneurship and Private Sector Development: The Case of Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Abstract

The dissertation explores both micro and macro-level conditions that enable or constrain entrepreneurship and develops an in-depth understanding of how talented young individuals perceive their pathways to entrepreneurship in complex transition economies such as the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The study has drawn on two theoretical frameworks, growth diagnostics, and the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Therefore, the study sought to answer the main research question stipulated in this dissertation: How and to what extent do the regional and individual factors enable or constrain entrepreneurship in the transition context of Kurdistan Region of Iraq? The finding of this thesis suggests that informal institutions (e.g., culture and social norms), are likely to play an important role in influencing entrepreneurship both at the micro and macro level. At the macro level, for example, low trust in formal banking services among the population which is recognized as one of the main reasons why the banking system is poorly developed and underutilized and ultimately resulting in low levels of entrepreneurship activity. At the micro level, the observed low status of entrepreneurs in the society seems, certainly in the presence of the abovementioned regional constraints, be considered as a less stable and less reliable career compared to a traditional employment career due to the risk it entails.