The Entrepreneur

For centuries, entrepreneurial talents in China were diverted to military wars, political struggles, and government services. But now things are changing.

One of the most instructive of all examples from maritime history is that of privateering, that is, the employment of profit-seeking, private armed ships during wartime.

There is a field where Austrians are being heard and where Austrian theory is tremendously influential, and that field is dynamic entrepreneurial capitalism.

"He loved liberty as other men love power," was the judgment passed on Benjamin Constant by a contemporary. His lifelong concern, both as a writer and politician, was the growth of human freedom. 

A business owner who cannot understand why a customer is not happy — or even very disappointed — with getting a full refund for a faulty product has failed to grasp some very fundamental economic concepts.

Capitalists provide a service to workers: access to capital with no risk, and immediate payment for services. Meanwhile, starting your own business brings both risk and a long wait before the profits start rolling in.

Africa has plenty of hard workers and plenty of natural resources. But private property is not secure there, which means few are willing to invest their capital there.

A comparison between the two theories of entrepreneurial action suggest that it may be time to drop the use of the words “equilibrium” and “disequilibrium” from economics.

Many products — delivered by the marketplace — that are mocked as "useless," and which environmentalists denounce as "wasteful" are essential items in the daily lives of many disabled people.

We take so many things that make daily life easier for granted. But entrepreneurs are usually behind what often amounts to revolutionary changes.