Heroic Entrepreneur, Theories

Synonyms

Business; Individual initiative; Industrial activity; Industrialization; Risk

The economic theory of the entrepreneur is defined in the analysis of R. Cantillon at the beginning of the eighteenth century, who draws a distinction between those who are a “known quantity” and those who are an “unknown quantity,” the entrepreneur belonging in the second category. That is effectively how the framework of the entrepreneur is constructed. The entrepreneur is the economic agent who supports risk emanating from the erratic functioning of the market. However, Cantillon distinguishes neither risk nor uncertainty. About a century later, J-B Say defined the entrepreneur as the intermediary between the savant who produces knowledge and the worker who applies it to industry. In this way, Say introduces a nodal element in the definition of the entrepreneur: innovation. Schumpeter too joins the original diptych. He, along with Cantillon and Say, constitutes the founding fathers of the theory...