Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The models of the mature phase
- 1 Walras's conception of a competitive market economy
- 2 The mature models: Not a normative scheme
- 3 The mature models of the barter of stocks of commodities
- 4 Institutions and participants in the model of monetary oral pledges markets
- 5 Disequilibrium and equilibrium in the model of monetary oral pledges markets
- 6 The structure of the mature nondurable consumer commodities model
- 7 The equilibrating processes in the mature nondurable consumer commodities model
- 8 The structure of the mature comprehensive model
- 9 The equilibrating processes in the mature comprehensive model
- 10 Walras and his critics on the maximum utility of new capital goods
- 11 The mature models of the money market
- 12 Iteration in the mature model of tatonnement
- 13 The mature model of the behavior of the entrepreneur
- 14 Walras versus Edgeworth on tatonnement processes
- Part II The models of the phase of decline
- References
- Collation of editions of the Eléments
- Index
13 - The mature model of the behavior of the entrepreneur
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The models of the mature phase
- 1 Walras's conception of a competitive market economy
- 2 The mature models: Not a normative scheme
- 3 The mature models of the barter of stocks of commodities
- 4 Institutions and participants in the model of monetary oral pledges markets
- 5 Disequilibrium and equilibrium in the model of monetary oral pledges markets
- 6 The structure of the mature nondurable consumer commodities model
- 7 The equilibrating processes in the mature nondurable consumer commodities model
- 8 The structure of the mature comprehensive model
- 9 The equilibrating processes in the mature comprehensive model
- 10 Walras and his critics on the maximum utility of new capital goods
- 11 The mature models of the money market
- 12 Iteration in the mature model of tatonnement
- 13 The mature model of the behavior of the entrepreneur
- 14 Walras versus Edgeworth on tatonnement processes
- Part II The models of the phase of decline
- References
- Collation of editions of the Eléments
- Index
Summary
This chapter eliminates the obscurity into which Walras's mature model of the activities of the entrepreneur has fallen. An exposition of the three parts of the model is given: Walras's definition of the entrepreneur, an account of the entrepreneur's role in effectuating dynamic market adjustments, and a description of his situation in an equilibrium state of the market. Criticisms of the model are presented and evaluated, its contributions are identified, and its impact on the work of Vilfredo Pareto, Enrico Barone, and Joseph Schumpeter is described. It is concluded that the model was a significant addition to economic analysis, providing the foundation and inspiration for some important aspects of the modern theory of the entrepreneur and of profits.
Introduction
This chapter continues the examination of the adjustment processes in Walras's models. Its subject is the role of the entrepreneur in those processes. The fact that Walras's mature model of the behavior of the entrepreneur provided a significant part of the foundations of the modern theories of the entrepreneur and of profits has been obscured by misunderstandings and decades of neglect. The major reasons for those conditions are that he did not provide a complete and clear statement of the model in one place, and that there has not been, as far as I am aware, any such statement in the interpretative literature on his work.
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- Walras's Market Models , pp. 279 - 301Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996