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Subtitle: Entrepreneurship from Ancient Mesopotamia to Modern Times,
Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 2010, 566 pgs., index, each essay has its own
reference notes.
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Reviewer comment: In these essays the readers will learn a great deal
new about the actual role of entrepreneurs in many times and places. The book
is important because it is based on extensive newer archeology and source study
than supported the misunderstandings of authors (even such as Adam Smith) prior
to last 50 years. It dispells what can now only be termed myths common in
establishment theories. In addition one will learn about the financial methods
upon which commerce and markets were based - the role of credit as money as
well as the use of currency Each essay has extensive footnotes and
bibliography.
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Forward
-The editors write: "The importance of history to understanding
entrepreneurship cannot be under estimated. Through history, we see the power,
the resilience, and the complexity of this phenomenon." And, "We
understand the tensions etween peroductive entrepreneurship that enhances the
growth of the economh and nproductive entrepreneural activity that exploits
opportunities for personal gain.
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Preface - "The Entreprerneur in History" William J. Baumol
- "The Central Objective of the Book"
"It was written to investigate seveal hypothesis that are of considerable
importance for the general welfare of society, hypotheses that, unfortunately,
resist testing by standard procedures such as statistical analysis or
controlled experiment."
"In brief, the first hypothesis asserts that the practical utilization of
inventions and their indispensable contribution to economic growth (at the very
least, the rate of such growth and hence the level of per capita income) will
be well below the levels they might otherwise have achieved without the
intervention of entrepreneurs."
"The second hypothesis goes in a direction rather different from the
first. It assets that entrepreneural activities are not always productive and
growth enhancing. Indeed, they may sometimes sabotage growth and prosperity.
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"The third hypothesis is that the direction taken by entrepreneural
activity depends heavily, at any particular time and in any particular society,
on the prevailing institutional arrangemens and the relative payoffs they offer
to entrepreneural activities that promote growth and those that do not, or
those that even handicap it."
"Fundamental Differences among Enterprising activities: The
Hypotheses"
"We consider individuals to be engaged in enterprising activities if they
devote their own independent efforts to the acquisition of wealth, power, and
prestige." This is very significant statement because it indicates the
presumption that there is one unified objective and process - in other words;
political, economic, and social together and inerchangable. This is the
opposite of the academic split into study of economics, politics, and sociology
without reference to each other so standard and detrmental today.
"It seems clear that two primary avenues have been followed in this
undertaking. which we label, for convenience, redistributive
enrepreneurship and productive entrepreneurship." The first
includes warfare and crime and also socially accepted welfare. The second
includes individual effort to add, create, something new or more to the social
wealth. Prior to modern times the first was generally viewed favorably while
the second was usually disdained. The author cites Douglas North's theory of
the central role of institutions in establishing the relative value afforded
each form, redistributive and productive. The idea is that the relative
increase in favor of productive entrepreneurs was a cause of the sudden, rapid
growth with the appearance of capitalism. This theory is strongly opposed by
Dr. McCloskey in her books on bourgeois role.
"But Why a Historical Approach?"
So far there has not been statistical analysis or resulting "broad
hypotheses about the fundamentals of innovative entrepreneural behavior and
their consequences." The author continues to describe why the 'optimality
analysis that underlies most microeconomic theory' is lacking. In other words,
academic economics cannot address what history can.
"Some Observations that Emerge" The point made here is that the
authors hope to provide useful information not only for readers but also for
government policy makers. And the author's basic theory will stress the role of
institutions.
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Introduction
- Global Enterprise and Industrial Performance: An Overview - David Landes
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Chapter 1
- Entrepreneurs: From the Near Eastern Takeoff to the Roman Collapse -Michael
Hudson
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Chapter 2
- Neo-Babylonian Entrepreneurs - Cornelia Wunsch
- very revealing about how finances were organized for business - credit
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Chapter 3
- The Scale of Enrepreneurship in Middle Eastern History: Inhibitive Roles of
Islamic Institutions - Timur Kuran
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Chapter 4
- Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship in Medieval Europe- James M. Murray
There was much more economic activity that is usually described in school texts
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Chapter 5
- Tawny's Century, 1540 - 1640: The Roots of Modern Capitalist Entrepreneurship
- John Munro
- especially importnt information related to McCloskey's theories
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Chapter 6
- The Golden Age of the Dutch Republic - Oscar Gelderblom
- More information related to McCloskey's theories
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Chapter 7
- Entrepreneurship and the Industrial Revolution in Britian - Joel Mokyr
- Also directly related
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Chapter 8
- Entrepreneurship in Britain, 1830 - 1900- Mark Casson and Andrew Godley
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Chapter 9
- History of Entrepreneurship: Britain, 1900 - 2000 - Andrew Godlely and Mark
Casson
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Chapter 10
- History of Entrepreneurship: Germany after 1815- Ulrich Wengenroth
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Chapter 11
- Entrepreneurship in France - Michael Hau
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Chapter 12
- Entrepreneurship in the Antebellum United States - Louis P. Cain
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Chapter 13
- Enrepreneurship in the United States, 1865 -1920 - Naomi R. Lamoreaux
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Chapter 14
- Entrepreneurship in he United States, 1920 -2000 - Margaret B. W. Graham
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Chapter 15
- An Examination of the Supply of Financial Credit to Entrepreneurs in Colonial
India - Susan Wolcott
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Chapter 16
- Chinese Entrepreneurship since the Late Imperial Period - Wellington K. K.
Chan
- another essay relalted to McCloskey theory
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Chapter 17
- Entrepreneurship in the pre-World War II Japan: The Role and Logic of the
Zaibatsu - Seiichiro Yonekura and Hiroshi Shimizu
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Chapter 18
- "Useful Knowledge" or Entrepreneurship: Some Implications of the
History - William J. Baumol and Robert J. Strom
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