We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Samizdata quote for the day

Entrepreneurs are the leading men of capitalism, the venturesome protagonists who move the plot forward. But economic theory gives them few if any lines to read.

The Economist.

I think that the economics profession is showing a bit more interest in entrepreneurship, at least since the 1980s. The “Austrian” school that gave us the likes of von Mises, Ludwig Lachmann and Israel Kirzner, for instance, puts the entrepreneur pretty much front and centre of the economic picture. For sheer gusto in defending the entrepreneur, there is still to this day no better advocate in my view than George Gilder.

5 comments to Samizdata quote for the day

  • Verity

    Oddly enough, Johnathan, I read this (Link) this morning and was thinking of sending it to you as it is right up your alley, but you can’t click on names and get an email address any more, so I sent it to the editors.

    But here is a brilliant entrepreneur with lashings of vision and drive and it fits right in to this subject. His idea is incredibly simple, he put it into effect, and he has improved the lot of millions of people. In other words, the water rose and all their boats went up, to quote PJ.

  • Pencer

    Don’t forget Shumpeter! His work forms the basis of evolutionary economics and work on entrepreneurialism.

  • Johnathan Pearce

    Pencer, indeed. Schumpeter was very important in re-igniting interest in this side of economics. I cannot obviously mention them all but he does deserve a plug, so thanks.

  • Bernie

    I think a large part of the problem of recognising entrepreneurs is that they are individuals and there occurence in any particular group is not predictable by the methods favoured by the social “sciences”.

  • Paul Marks

    Let us not forget Richard Cantillion.

    For all his naughty deeds, Cantillion was the great founder of work on the entrepreneur – and his work was not improved upon for at least a century and a half after he died (in 1734 – although there are some who think differently).