Re-Understanding Entrepreneurship
What It Is and Why It Matters

Shifts the focus of economics from a price-centric to an entrepreneur-centric paradigm.

Weiying Zhang (Author), Matthew Dale (Translated by)

9781009453394, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 May 2024

378 pages
23.5 x 16 x 2.4 cm, 0.608 kg

'Weiying Zhang is one of the most important economists of our time. I have learned a lot from him. At the center of his thinking is, quite rightly, the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurial ideas are the most important thing in capitalism - and we all owe our prosperity primarily to entrepreneurship.' Rainer Zitelmann, Historian, sociologist, entrepreneur, and author of In Defense of Capitalism (published in thirty languages)

How do entrepreneurs make decisions in the real world? Why are entrepreneurs absent from mainstream economics? What functions do entrepreneurs play in the market? What type of institutional environment is needed for entrepreneurship to play a role? Neoclassical economics is a market theory without entrepreneurship. This misconception distorts our understanding of how the real market works, leading to a theory of market failure that forms the common foundation of various government interventions. The market is not only an allocative process but, more importantly, a discovery and creative process. To understand the real market, Weiying Zhang argues that economics must shift from a price-centric to an entrepreneur-centric paradigm. Blending theory and narrative, Zhang intersects history with the present supporting his theory with relevant case studies. He argues that once entrepreneurship in the market is correctly understood, the foundation for government intervention is undermined and the economy can sustainably flourish.

Preface
Part I. The Nature of Knowledge and Entrepreneurship: 1. Soft knowledge and entrepreneurship
2. Understanding entrepreneurial decisions
3. Big data cannot replace entrepreneurs
4. Prejudice and hostility towards entrepreneurs
Part II. Entrepreneurs in Market Theories: 5. The two paradigms of the market
6. What is a good market theory?
7. Entrepreneurship is the best anti-monopoly law
8. Entrepreneurial profit and common prosperity
Part III. Uncertainty of Innovation and Industrial Policy: 9. Entrepreneurs in economic growth: arbitrage and innovation
10. The uncertainty of innovation
11. The airship and airplane duel
12. Entrepreneurship and industrial policy
Part IV. Institutional Ecology of Entrepreneurship: 13. What determines the allocation of entrepreneurial talents?
14. Entrepreneurs and capitalists
15. Protection of rights versus protection of interests
16. Challenges for entrepreneurs from conflicting values
Appendix A: My journey studying entrepreneurs
Appendix B: How I came to know the Austrian School of Economics
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Entrepreneurship [KJH]