The Entrepreneur

The capitalist entrepreneur acts with a specific goal in mind: to attain a monetary profit.

Entrepreneurship is the driving force of a market economy, and that entrepreneurs need property rights, the rule of law, sound money, and free and open competition to be successful.

This paper summarizes and compares the theories of entrepreneurship of Joseph A. Schumpter and Israel M. Kirzner as presented in their major scholarly contributions to economic analysis.

Richard Cantillon is credited with the discovery of economic theory and was the first to fully consider the critical role of entrepreneurship in the economy.

With the failure of central planning, many economists see government as an entrepreneurial institution that fosters efficiency and economic growth,

Volume 6, Number 1 (Fall 1985)

Charles Baird discusses the impact of Government regulation on entrepreneurial discovery.

Do entrepreneurs make predictable mistakes? Theory and evidence suggest otherwise. Contrary to the conventional wisdom on mergers and sell-offs, divestitures of previously acquired assets 

This paper enlarges Menger’s theory of the origins of money by making explicit the role of entrepreneurship in the theory and by extending the theory to market institutions other than money. 

Why do business firms exist?  Do firms substitute for the market or complement the market?  Why do firms buy some inputs but make others?These are basic economic questions. 

In his book The Theory of Economic Development, Schumpeter (1934) pointed out that entrepreneurs are prime movers of economic change. The entrepreneurs described by Schumpeter were innovators.