Butler Institute for Free Enterprise Through Entrepreneurship

The Butler Institute for Free Enterprise Through Entrepreneurship at Babson College facilitates exploration at the intersection of government, business, and society by considering how policies, social values, and ethical business influence entrepreneurship, free enterprise, and prosperity for all.

Mission

The Butler Institute is designed to encourage research and policy outcomes that will affect systems and societies, augmenting the century-long success Babson has had impacting individual entrepreneurs and their organizations.

Areas of Research

The Butler Institute will explore high-level questions such as:

How do different economic systems contribute to economic and social value creation?
What role does entrepreneurship play in creating economic and social value?
Which factors in government, society, and business foster or constrain value creation?
How can entrepreneurship affect social mobility?
How do we design systems that encourage the optimal level of value creation?

It is also the new home for the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the Babson-led research study that has been examining levels of entrepreneurial activity around the globe for two decades.

Programming

Join one of our events!

Our programming aims to inform policy by studying the relationship between entrepreneurship and free enterprise. Longitudinal data will be collected, and insights will be regularly shared with local and national policymakers.

Further programming aims to cultivate a community of thinkers and business leaders who can critically examine the policies and practices that generate economic and social value for businesses, regions, and economies. Through a combination of lectures, annual summits, and coursework, we will ensure that free enterprise ideas are regularly explored by Babson’s community.

With this approach, the Butler Institute will inform business policy, regulations, and practices, and be able to have a macro-level impact.

Visit the Events page to see the Institute's programming.

Butler Institute Team

Andrew C. Corbett, Ph.D., Faculty Director, The Butler Institute for Free Enterprise Through Entrepreneurship

Cindy Klein Marmer, Interim Executive Director, The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship

Clare Currie, Program Manager, Butler Programs Portfolio

For general information, please get in touch with: butlerinstitute@babson.edu

2025 Butler Institute Spring Symposium: The Future of the Green Economy

We were delighted to welcome Yvonne Hao, Secretary of Economic Development, Commonwealth of MA, Ashley Stolba, MA Undersecretary of Economic Foundations, and Katie Theoharides, President and CEO of The Trustee of Reservations, to the Babson campus. We were also thrilled to welcome back three alumni investors in the green economy, Edison Almeida MBA’06, Dan Altschuler MBA’11, and John Chaimanis MBA’07.

Babson Students Win Cash Prizes at the 2025 Butler Institute GEM Data Hackathon

The Data Hackathon was created to challenge both undergraduate and graduate students to analyze data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and uncover new, unique insights about entrepreneurship across the United States.

Spring 2024 with Butler Institute Scholars

Dr. Rumman Chowdhury Visits Babson College

The former United States Science Envoy for Artificial Intelligence spoke before a packed crowd of students, faculty, and staff at Olin Hall’s Winn Auditorium and discussed the state of AI, its challenges, and its promise.

Why Entrepreneurship Is Key to Lifelong Happiness

At an event hosted by the Butler Institute for Free Enterprise Through Entrepreneurship, bestselling author and social scientist Dr. Arthur Brooks discusses the ingredients to happiness and success.