The Entrepreneur in Microeconomic Theory: Disappearance and Explanation

Throughout history of economic thought, entrepreneur a wide variety of roles. Once cast as a fundamental agent in production, distribution and growth theories, he has now surprisingly disappeared from economic theory. This volume accounts for this disappearance, exploring how and why such a fundamental explanatory variable disappeared from economic theory. Barreto provides a concise review and classification of many entrepreneurial theories put forward throughout history of economic thought. The author illustrates that decline of entrepreneur in economic theory coincides with rise of the firm as an organizing principle and considers how replacement of human element with a mechanistic one has led to disenchantment with microeconomic theory. This fascinating book will interest economists from a range of disciplines including history of economic thought, microeconomics and entrepreneurship.