----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- The term "entrepreneur" has a fascinating etymology and has been used in a variety of ways throughout the history of economic thought. Adam Smith used "adventurer," "undertaker," and "projector" because entrepreneur wasn't an English word in his time. As for the way the term has been used, the entrepreneur has played vital roles in the work of Cantillon, Say, Knight, Schumpeter, and Kirzner, among others. A while ago I was extremely interested in this topic and I wrote a book titled, The Entrepreneur in Microeconomic Theory: Disappearance and Explanation. I tried to present alternative uses for the entrepreneur in the history of economics and make the case that modern, neoclassical economic theory doesn't need an entrepreneur because of its emphasis on static resource allocation problems. Of course, there are many other sources, including, for example, Mark Casson's The Entrepreneur. It's a fun and interesting word that leads in many different directions. Humberto Barreto Wabash College ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]