The Entrepreneur

Presented at Mises University 2020.

Although many claim "nobody saw this coming," some entrepreneurs planned ahead and also have found ways to cater to customers under new conditions.

Formal models of the economy, writes Murray Rothbard, tend to overlook a crucial instrument of change: entrepreneurship.

To spread the benefits of goods and services, we must first spread the mindset needed to take on the task of producing goods and services. That is, the mindset of entrepreneurship.

Some anticapitalists have tried to claim "good" entrepreneurs don't make profit the primary goal. Yet, without profit, an entrepreneur cannot serve the people who depend on him or her for goods and services.

Anti-price gouging laws mean that those who really end up getting the short end of the stick are those who don't have the time or the means to beat the crowds to the store. Worse off are those of lesser means who rely on public transportation or walking to transport groceries home.

Governments that hamper entrepreneurship certainly damage it in the near term. But these measures destroy the conditions necessary for innovation and entrepreneurship in the future as well.

Markets are not the enemy of equality. Regulated markets are. The income inequality that naturally occurs in the free market as a result of human uniqueness is needlessly amplified by restrictive government policies to the detriment of all.

Everything you learned from family dinner conversations and your culture served to build your human capital. Across the globe, the people of various regions cultivate certain skills that enable individuals to consider entrepreneurship as a viable choice of work.