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Zoltan Acs selves with no other options for work than self employment—necessity entrepreneurship. As one would expect, the influx of many former wage workers into necessity entrepreneurship resulted in several years of negative GDP growth. This story can be retold in several other countries around the world when economies are confronted with structural change. While it is easy to see that starting a new business to exploit a perceived business opportunity would lead to economic development, it is also possible that necessity entrepreneurship may not lead to economic development. Being pushed into entrepreneurship (self-employment) because all other options for work are either absent or unsatisfactory can even lead to under development. While all countries have some level of both opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship, we suggest that the ratio of opportunity-to-necessity entrepreneurship should be a useful indicator of economic development, and can be a guide for development policy. In fact, we find a positive relationship between the opportunity ratio and GDP per capita. We then suggest that policies in less developed countries should focus on strengthening General National Framework Conditions, and in developed economies policy should focus on strengthening the entrepreneurial framework conditions. The next section describes the GEM program. Section Three examines the relationship between economic development and globalization. Section Four examines the differential impacts of necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship on development, followed by conclusions.