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entrepreneurs to begin innovation again. In this way Schumpeter used entrepreneurship to explain structural
change, economic growth, and business cycles, using a combination of economic and psychological ideas.
Schumpeter was concerned with the "high-level" kind of entrepreneurship that, historically, has led to the
creation of railroads, the birth of the chemical industry, the commercial exploitation of colonies, and the emer-
gence of the multidivisional multinational firm. His analysis left little room for the much more common, but no
less important, "low-level" entrepreneurship carried on by small firms. The essence of this low-level activity
can be explained by the Austrian approach of Friedrich A. Hayek and Israel M. Kirzner. In a market economy,
price information is provided by entrepreneurs. While bureaucrats in a socialist economy have no incentive to
discover prices for themselves, entrepreneurs in a market economy are motivated to do so by profit opportuni-
ties. Entrepreneurs provide price quotations to others as an invitation to trade with them. They hope to make a
profit by buying cheap and selling dear. In the long run, competition between entrepreneurs arbitrages away
price differentials, but in the short run, such differentials, once discovered, generate a profit for the arbitrageur.
The difficulty with the Austrian approach is that it isolates the entrepreneur from the firm. It fits an indi-
vidual dealer or speculator far better than it fits a small manufacturer or even a retailer. In many cases (and in
almost all large corporations), owners delegate decisions to salaried managers, and the question then arises
whether a salaried manager, too, can be an entrepreneur. Frank Knight maintained that no owner would ever
delegate a key decision to a salaried subordinate, because he implicitly assumed that subordinates cannot be
trusted. Uncertainty bearing, therefore, is inextricably vested in the owners of the firm's equity, according to
Knight. But in practice subordinates can win a reputation for being good stewards, and even though salaried,
they have incentives to establish and maintain such reputations because their promotion prospects depend upon
it. In this sense, both owners and managers can be entrepreneurs.
The title of entrepreneur should, however, be confined to an owner or manager who exhibits the key trait of
entrepreneurship noted above: judgment in decision making. Judgment is a capacity for making a successful
decision when no obviously correct model or decision rule is available or when relevant data is unreliable or
incomplete. Cantillon's entrepreneur needs judgment to speculate on future price movements, while Knight's
entrepreneur requires judgment because he deals in situations that are unprecedented and unique. Schumpeter's
entrepreneur needs judgment to deal with the novel situations connected with innovation.
The insights of previous economists can be synthesized. Entrepreneurs are specialists who use judgment to
deal with novel and complex problems. Sometimes they own the resources to which the problems are related,
and sometimes they are stewards employed by the owners. In times of major political, social, and environ-
mental change, the number of problems requiring judgment increases and the demand for entrepreneurs rises as
a result. For supply to match demand, more people have to forgo other careers in order to become entrepre-
neurs. They are encouraged to do so by the higher expected pecuniary rewards associated with entrepreneur-
ship, and perhaps also by increases in the social status of entrepreneurs, as happened in the eighties.
The supply of entrepreneurs depends not only on reward and status, but also on personality, culture, and
life experience. An entrepreneur will often find that his opinion is in conflict with the majority view. He needs
the self-confidence that, even though in a minority, he is right. He must be persuasive, however, without dis-
closing too much information, because others may steal his ideas. Such shrewdness must, moreover, be com-
bined with a reputation for honesty, because otherwise no one will wish to lend money to him for fear of delib-
erate default.
In identifying profitable opportunities the entrepreneur needs to synthesize information from different
sources. Thus, the Schumpeterian innovator may need to synthesize technical information on an invention with
information on customer needs and on the availability of suitable raw materials. A good education combined
with wide-ranging practical experience helps the entrepreneur to interpret such varied kinds of information. So-
ciability also helps the entrepreneur to make contact with people who can supply such information second-
hand. For low-level entrepreneurship, education and breadth of experience may be less important because in-
formation is less technical and more localized. Good social contacts within the local community are more im-
portant here. Key information is obtained by joining the local church, town council, residents' association, and
so on.
The culture of a community may be an important influence on the level of entrepreneurship. A community
that accords the highest status to those at the top of hierarchical organizations encourages "pyramid climbing",
while awarding high status to professional expertise may encourage premature educational specialization. Both
of these are inimical to entrepreneurship. The first directs ambition away from innovation (rocking the boat),
while the second leads to the neglect of relevant information generated outside the limited boundaries of the
profession. According high status to the "self-made" man or woman is more likely to encourage entrepreneur-
ship.
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