Discusses in general terms the themes in Richard Cantillon's Essai sur la nature du commerce en général (1755), including a short biographical section
This first part of the Essai is where Cantillon makes the distinction between entrepreneurs and workers ... Accordingly, ... there are at least 110 separate references to the word "entrepreneur" ... This term is thought to have been first used by Cantillon, and it was later popularized by John Stuart Mill ... Cantillon visualizes the entrepreneur as being a risk-taker, dealing with uncertain returns in a market where prices and quantities are non-fixed and unknown. This bearing of risk, on the part of the entrepreneur, is what warrants him an appropriate profit in exchanges with willing buyers.
Related Topics: Richard Cantillon, F. A. Hayek, Israel Kirzner, François Quesnay, Murray N. Rothbard, Adam Smith