In this paper we compare the coupling between entrepreneurship policy and entrepreneurship activity in developed and developing countries. Using new institutional arguments, we argüe that developing countries are prone to implement policies that (1) are based on experiences in developed countries which have not proven to transfer flttingly to developing economies, (2) are onlypartly implemented and are not internally consistent as a result ofa lack of resources to do so, and (3) are more beneficial on paper than on actual activity Following this perspective, the coupling between entrepreneurship policy and entrepreneurship activity is hypothesized to be lowerfor developing countries than for developed countries. Using GEM data correlating the TEA index of early-phase entrepreneurship with indicators of policies obtained from key expert informants supports this proposition.