Public entrepreneurs

by Schneider, Mark

Seizing opportunities, inventing new products, transforming markets - entrepreneurs are an important and well-documented part of the private sector landscape. Do they have counterparts in the public sphere? Mark Schneider, Paul Teske, and Michael Mintrom argue that they do, and test their argument by focusing on agents of dynamic political change in suburbs across the United States, where much of the entrepreneurial activity in American politics occurs. The public entrepreneurs they identify are most often mayors, city managers, or individual citizens. These entrepreneurs develop innovative ideas and implement new service and tax arrangements where existing administrative practices and budgetary allocations prove inadequate to meet a range of problems, from economic development to the racial transition of neighborhoods. How do public entrepreneurs emerge? What do they do? How much does the future of urban development depend on them? Public Entrepreneurs proposes a model for answering t