The Institutional Analysis of Entrepreneurship: Historist Aspects of Schumpeter’s Development Theory

Abstract

The notion of entrepreneurship in Schumpeter' s works has been interpreted as a dualistic concept, involving a shift of the conceptual focus from the heroic founders of new firms to the routinised employees in bureaucratic corporations. This interpretation neglects a most crucial aspect of Schumpeter' s theory of economic development, that is the historicity of entre- preneurship which is based on the analytical distinction between the entrepreneurial function and its historically specific carriers. Schumpeter's German works provide most relevant insights for the related debate on the concept of entrepreneurship, for they mirror the sustained intellectual impact of historist thought on methodological as well as on conceptual grounds. With special attention to the intellectual relationship between Schumpeter, Sombart and Spiethoff it is concluded that Schumpeter's German works already contain the major components of his comprehensive research efforts. Thus an assessment of explorations on the historicity of entre- preneurship in Schumpeter' s German works contributes to the interpretation of Schumpeter' s theory as well as to the current formulation of a Schumpeterian paradigm in modern economics.