Austrian Economics and the Study of Entrepreneurship: Concepts and Contributions

Abstract

Entrepreneurship researcher’s growing interest in Austrian economics has not been matched by systematic efforts to tease out and incorporate this tradition's basic ideas. To remedy this situation, this paper introduces the Austrian market-process tradition and also compares it to the equilibrium-focused neoclassical tradition. Taking this contrast as point of departure, we reexamine three central questions in the field of entrepreneurship studies: Who is an entrepreneur?, What is an opportunity?, and What is the role of planning? Based on the answers to these specific questions, the paper concludes with a broader discussion of how Austrian concepts can contribute to the theoretical and methodological development of entrepreneurship studies writ large.