How Did Growth Become So Interesting?

Abstract

Everything begins with something in history and entrepreneurship and growth are no exceptions. Historically, it is widely thought that entrepreneurship, as a concept, was coined by Jean Bertrand Say (1803), although some find even deeper historical roots with the work of Cantillion in the seventeenth century. In fact, in “The Early History of Entrepreneurial Theory” (Hoselitz 1951; Landström, Pioneers in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research, 2005) the conceptual roots in terms of the use and meaning of “entrepreneur” are traced to a much earlier time in the history of civilization. Evidence points to the term being formed during the Middle-Ages. That is, long before Cantillon or Say. It was “celui qui entreprend quelque,” that is, a person who gets things done. Generally, whether an activity is recognized as entrepreneurial or not tends to be justified by the nature of the action a person (in this case, the entrepreneur) undertakes (Landström, Pioneers in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research, 2005; Brännback and Carsrud, Understanding the entrepreneurial mind, 2009).