This paper introduces a special issue from the 3rd Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Research Conference, focusing on the relationship between entrepreneurship, economic development, and institutions. The authors discuss three stages of economic development: factor-driven, efficiency-driven, and innovation-driven, and examine the empirical evidence linking these stages to entrepreneurship. They highlight the importance of institutional contexts and their impact on entrepreneurial activities, which vary across countries. The paper also reviews the GEM data collection methods and their limitations, particularly in comparing entrepreneurial activity between developed and developing countries. It introduces new measures, such as the opportunity-necessity entrepreneurship ratio and global entrepreneurship indices, which provide a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development. The papers in this special issue explore various aspects of this relationship, including the role of institutional arrangements, export orientation, and individual-level factors. The conclusions emphasize the need for a more complex and context-specific approach to measuring and understanding entrepreneurship, and the importance of policy interventions to foster entrepreneurship in different stages of economic development.This paper introduces a special issue from the 3rd Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Research Conference, focusing on the relationship between entrepreneurship, economic development, and institutions. The authors discuss three stages of economic development: factor-driven, efficiency-driven, and innovation-driven, and examine the empirical evidence linking these stages to entrepreneurship. They highlight the importance of institutional contexts and their impact on entrepreneurial activities, which vary across countries. The paper also reviews the GEM data collection methods and their limitations, particularly in comparing entrepreneurial activity between developed and developing countries. It introduces new measures, such as the opportunity-necessity entrepreneurship ratio and global entrepreneurship indices, which provide a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development. The papers in this special issue explore various aspects of this relationship, including the role of institutional arrangements, export orientation, and individual-level factors. The conclusions emphasize the need for a more complex and context-specific approach to measuring and understanding entrepreneurship, and the importance of policy interventions to foster entrepreneurship in different stages of economic development.