Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T13:15:59.906Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Capitalist Entrepreneur In Eighteenth-Century Economic Literature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2009

Philippe Fontaine
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Although the capitalist entrepreneur played a significant role in the early classical explanation of capital markets and economic development, mainstream opinion in the history of economic thought merely holds that eighteenth-century economists failed to distinguish the entrepreneurial function from that of supplying financial capital. Accordingly, one considers the conception of the capitalist entrepreneur an erroneous view—characterized by the confusion between profits and interest—that Jean-Baptiste Say corrected at the turn of the century (Schumpeter 1954, p. 555; Koolman 1971, p. 276). Moreover, this conception has been mainly ascribed to British authors (Perroux 1929, p. 1665; Cole 1942, pp. 120–1; Hoselitz 1951, p. 212; Blaug 1985, pp. 459–60), a claim which certainly goes back to Say's opinion that:

The English do not have a word to render entrepreneur d'Industrie, which has prevented them from distinguishing, among industrial operations, the service provided by the capital from the service provided by one who uses this capital through his ability and talent. Hence…the obscurity in the demonstrations where they [the English] try to go back to the source of profits (Say 1803, pp. 74–75, n. 1; see also p. 357, n. 1).

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , Spring 1993 , pp. 72 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barreto, Humberto. 1989. The Entrepreneur in Microeconomic Theory: Disappearance and Explanation, Routledge, London and New York.Google Scholar
Baumol, William J. 1968. “Entrepreneurship in Economic Theory,” American Economic Review, 58, no. 2, 64–71.Google Scholar
Baudeau, Nicolas. 1771. Première Introduction à la philosophie économique ou, Analyse des États policés, Geuthner, Paris, 1910.Google Scholar
Blaug, Mark. 1985. Economic Theory in Retrospect, 4th ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Cantillon, Richard. 1755. Essai sur la nature du commerce en général, INED, Paris, 1952.Google Scholar
Casson, Mark. 1987. “Entrepreneur,” in Eatwell, J., Milgate, M. and Newman, P., eds, The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, 2, 151–53, Stockton Press, New York, and Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
Cole, Arthur H. 1942. “Entrepreneurship as an Area of Research,” Journal of Economic History, Supplement, 118–26.Google Scholar
Fontaine, Philippe. 1991. “‘Classes laborieuses' et ‘classe disponible’ chez Turgot: Essai de généalogie des comportements économiques,” Économies et Sociétés, Series Œconomia, 25, no. 5, 93–116.Google Scholar
Fontaine, Philippe. 1992. “Social Progress and Economic Behaviour in Turgot,” in Lowry, S. Todd, ed., Perspectives on the History of Economic Thought, 7, 76–93, Edward Elgar, Aldershot.Google Scholar
Fontaine, Philippe. 1992. “La Théorie de l'entrepreneur de Turgot: Commentaire,” L'Actualité économique, Revue d'analyse économique, 68, no. 3, 127–35.Google Scholar
Garnier, Germain. 1796 (Year IV). Abrégé élémentaire des principes de l'économie politique, Agasse, Paris.Google Scholar
Hébert, Robert F. and Link, Albert N. 1988. The Entrepreneur: Mainstream Views and Radical Critiques, 2d ed., Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Hoselitz, Bert F. 1951. “The Early History of Entrepreneurial Theory,” Explorations in Entrepreneurial History, 3, no. 4, 193–220.Google Scholar
Karayiannis, Anastassios D. 1990. “The Entrepreneurial Function in Economic Literature: A Synoptic Review,” Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Economiche e Commerciali, 37, no. 3, 245–68.Google Scholar
Kirzner, Israel M. 1979. Perception, Opportunity, and Profit: Studies in the Theory of Entrepreneurship, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London.Google Scholar
Koolman, G. 1971. “Say's Conception of the Role of the Entrepreneur,” Economica, 38, no. 151, 269–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leibenstein, Harvey. 1968. “Entrepreneurship and Development,” American Economic Review, 58, no. 2, 72–83.Google Scholar
Perroux, Francois. 1929. “Doctrine fasciste et notion d'entrepreneur,” Revue d'économie politique, 43, no. 6, 70–1665.Google Scholar
Pesciarelli, Enzo. 1989. “Smith, Bentham, and the Development of Contrasting Ideas on Entrepreneurship,” History of Political Economy, 21, no. 3, 521–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quesnay, Francois. 1756. “Farmers,” in Groenewegen, Peter D., ed. and trans., Quesnay: Farmers 1756 and Turgot: Sur la grande et la petite culture, 1–25, University of Sydney, Sydney, 1983.Google Scholar
Quesnay, Francois. 1757. “Grains,” in François Quesnay et la physiocratie, 2, 459–510, I.N.E.D., Paris, 1958.Google Scholar
Quesnay, Francois. 1757. “Impôts,” in François Quesnay et la physiocratie, 2, 579–617, I.N.E.D., Paris, 1958.Google Scholar
Quesnay, Francois. 1758. “Questions intéressantes sur la population, l'agriculture et le commerce,” in François Quesnay et la physiocratie, 2, 61966, I.N.E.D., Paris, 1958.Google Scholar
Quesnay, Francois. 1763. “Chapitre VII de la Philosophie rurale,” in François Quesnay et la physiocratie, 2, 687–728, I.N.E.D., Paris, 1958.Google Scholar
Quesnay, Francois. 1765. “Le droit naturel,” in François Quesnay et la physio cratie, 2, 729–42, I.N.E.D., Paris, 1958.Google Scholar
Quesnay, Francois. 1766. “Analyse de la formule arithmétique du Tableau économique,” in François Quesnay et la physiocratie, 2, 793–812, I.N.E.D., Paris, 1958.Google Scholar
Redlich, Fritz. 1966. “Toward the Understanding of an Unfortunate Legacy,” Kyklos, 19, no. 4, 709–18.Google Scholar
Say, Jean-Baptiste. 1803. Traité d'économie politique, Calmann-Lévy, Paris, 1972.Google Scholar
Say, Jean-Baptiste. 1828–1829. Cours complet d'économie politique pratique…, Rapilly, Paris.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, Joseph A. 1954. History of Economic Analysis, Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Sheehan, John H. 1950. “What is the Function of the Entrepreneur?” Review of Social Economy, 8, no. 1, 30–34.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1776. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1976.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1759. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1976.Google Scholar
Spengler, Joseph J. “Adam Smith's Theory of Economic Growth,” part II, Southern Economic Journal, 26, no. 1, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turgot, Anne Robert Jacques. 1766. “Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth,” in Groenewegen, Peter D., ed. and trans., The Economics of A. R. J. Turgot, 43–95, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1977.Google Scholar
Turgot, Anne Robert Jacques. 1770. “Mémoire sur les prêts d'argent,” in Schelle, G., ed., Œuvres de Turgot et documents le concernant, 3, 154–202, Alcan, Paris, 1919.Google Scholar
Turgot, Anne Robert Jacques. 1770. “Extracts from ‘Paper on Lending at Interest,’” in Groenewegen, Peter D., ed. and trans., The Economics of A. R. J. Turgot, 149–63, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1977.Google Scholar
Tuttle, Charles A. 1927. “The Function of the Entrepreneur,” The American Economic Review, 17, no. 1, 13–25.Google Scholar
Tuttle, Charles A.. 1927. “The Entrepreneur Function in Economic Literature,” Journal of Political Economy, 35, no. 4, 501–21.Google Scholar