The effects of entrepreneurship and information and communication technology (ICT) on countries' development have been extensively studied, mainly from the perspective of their contributions to economic growth. However, from the human development paradigm, economic income is only resource helping people satisfy their economic needs. This study provides new evidence to bridge the gap in our understanding of how entrepreneurship and ICT improve the quality of people's lives. To achieve this goal, we use the capabilities approach as a theoretical framework. The empirical analysis was conducted using ordinary least squares with a sample of countries to provide evidence that innovative entrepreneurship, as measured by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, has a positive relationship with human development, as measured by the Social Progress Index. The results show that ICT, as measured by the Networked Readiness Index, is positively related to social progress, indicating that ICT is a tool that helps people improve their ability to lead the life they desire. Finally, we find that ICT boosts the positive effect of innovative entrepreneurship on social progress, and thus, that enhancing ICT, and with it, entrepreneurial innovation activity, improves the quality of life.

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This study aims to contribute new information on how and through which factors employment quality and housing quality can be improved from a human development approach so that people can live the life they want. Using the human capabilities approach as a theoretical reference framework, the article analyses the effect of involuntary part-time employment and overcrowded housing on the Human Development Index (HDI). The empirical analysis is based on the panel data technique, which is applied to data from the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the 28 member countries of the European Union. The results shed new evidence on how involuntary part-time work and overcrowded housing limit or hinder people from living the lives they want, at least in the dimensions measured by the HDI.