Abstract
Evidence of entrepreneurship can be seen as early as the medieval period, but most literature in the field concentrates on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This chapter presents a more balanced picture of the historical significance of the entrepreneur, showing that entrepreneurs were involved in innovative activities across history and contributed to key economic changes. A variety of terms were used to describe entrepreneurial activities in different periods of history. However this chapter demonstrates that chronological comparisons can aid our understanding of the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs.
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Further reading
For a long-run perspective on economic evolution see
Gough, J. W. (1969) The Rise of the Entrepreneur (London: B.T. Batsford).
Jones, E. (1983) The European Miracle (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
North, D. C. (1981) Structure and Change in Economic History (New York: W.W. Norton).
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Rosenberg, N. and L. E. Bridzell, Jr. (1986) How the West Grew Rich (London: I.B.Tauris).
The classic reference on the division of labour is
Smith, A. (1776) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Glasgow edition) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976) (the quote is from the title of book I, part III).
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For the Urban Revolution see
Beresford, M. (1967) New Towns of the Middle Ages: Town Plantation in England, Wales and Gascony (London: Lutterworth Press).
For the commercialisation of the medieval economy see
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On the Industrial Revolution and the Modern Period see
Allen, R. E. (2009) The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Jones, G. G. (2005) Multinationals and Global Capitalism: From the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
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Tedlow, R. (1990) New and Improved: The Story of Mass Marketing in America (New York: Basic Books).
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© 2013 Mark Casson and Catherine Casson
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Casson, M., Casson, C. (2013). The Historical Significance of the Entrepreneur. In: The Entrepreneur in History: From Medieval Merchant to Modern Business Leader. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137305824_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137305824_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, London
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