Section 2 from the:

 The Concise Guide To Economics 

   by Jim Cox

Entreprenuership.

Entrepreneurship is risking valuable resources. What is done and what could be done?  2. Entrepreneurship Acting on perceived opportunities in the market in an attempt to gain profits. This acting involves being alert to profit resources and seeing a project through to completion. Entrepreneurs can be regarded as heroic characters in the new goods and services to the consumer. To quote from Ludwig vonMises in Human Action : They are the leaders on the way to material progress. They are the first to understand that there is a discrepancy between what is done and what could be done. They guess what the consumers would liketo have and are intent on providing them with these things. p. 336  

Entrepremnuership.

Entrepreneurship is an art, every bit as much as creating a painting or sculpture. In each case--running a business and producing a work of art--the same elements abound: Conceiving the undertaking, taking resources and combining them into something new and different, risking those valuable resources in producing something which may ultimately prove to be of less value.

 It is very common in economics textbooks to ignore the entrepreneur when the texts discuss markets and competition. Their treatment implies that this alertness to profit possibilities, arrangement of financing, management of resources and seeing a project through to completion are all automatic within the market economy. They are not. Real flesh and blood people must act (and not once, but continuously), and be motivated to take these risks in order for commerce to proceed.

The theory of perfect competition entirely eliminates any role for such a person. Oneof the reasons the role of entrepreneurs has been deemphasized is the methodologyof positivism. This approach reduces economic phenomena to mathematics andgraphs. Since the traits of alertness, energy, and enthusiasm so necessary forentrepreneurship do not lend themselves readily to mathematics and graphing theyare neglected by many economists. Here we have a method displacing real-worldevents. Which is it we should do?: Throw out parts of reality (such as the abovenamed traits) which do not fit with a method, or find a method that acknowledgesand deals with such significant parts of reality?

 � Dolan, Edwin G. and David E. LindsayEconomics, 6th edition  (Hinsdale, Illinois: Dryden Press, 1991)pp. 788 - 811

�  flsom, BurtEntrepreneurs vs. the State  ,(Reston, Virginia: Young America's Foundation, 1987)�The Concise Guide To Economics  © 1995, 1997 Jim Cox

"Sample quote will go here. It could be something finance related or inspirational."  John Q. Speaker