The effect of entrepreneurship on the economic growth in Palestine

Abstract EN

lowering the unemployment rate, and achieving a sustainable economic development.

Nonetheless, achieving a sustainable economic development in Palestine faces a number of challenges; the difficulty of movement, the increase in the number of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian Territories; and the lack of sovereignty of the Palestinian government on the ground.

These issues have a tremendous negative effect on both the agricultural and industrial sectors.

Consequently, policy makers directed their efforts towards the investment in humans.

Therefore, on July 2012, the Higher Council for Innovation and Excellence (HCIE) was created.

In addition, the Innovation and Excellence Support Fund (IESF) was developed to aid HCIE in creating a generation of entrepreneurs and instituting the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, which will lead to sustainable economic development.

The purpose of this paper is to answer the question of whether the creation of the HCIE was the right step in the right direction.

The data was collected from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics for the period 1999-2018.

The time series analysis was used to determine whether the number of entrepreneurs has a positive effect on economic growth.

Our developed econometric model indicated that entrepreneurship is not contributing to economic growth.

Therefore, HCIE will play the role of aiding entrepreneurs in contributing positively to economic growth