David B. Audretsch

The work. He made entrepreneurship a serious empirical field. His knowledge spillover theory says new firms form when someone inside a big organization sees an idea the organization will not use, and walks out the door with it.

The case for. Entrepreneurship is the one part of the economy every politician talks about and no laureate has been honored for.

The case against. Mokyr, Aghion and Howitt took the innovation and growth prize in 2025, so that slot is spent. Small business research reads as management in Stockholm.

The KmikeyM angle. KmikeyM is the knowledge spillover theory run on a single person: an idea no employer would fund, spun out as a public company whose only asset is the founder.