On Neglected Opportunities And Entrepreneurial Discovery

Choi Young Back
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Choi Young Back: St. John’s University

Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, 2002, vol. 12, issue 1, 17

Abstract: The idea of entrepreneurial discovery of profitable opportunities neglected by others as the driving force of the market process is the key contribution of Kirzner to economics. However, to enrich our understanding of the process of entrepreneurial discovery and to derive testable implications we need something more concrete than Kirzner's alertness. The paper builds on Kirzner's distinction between the logic of choice and perception (or understanding), by arguing that the essence of decision making is coming to an understanding, and learning how to act. A set of behavioral implications (such as experimentation, habits, imitation, empathy, etc..) follows as patterns of learning in different contexts. Further, conventions emerge as a means of stabilizing mutual expectations. Stability of conventions on the one hand and learning over time on the other creates possibility of entrepreneurial discovery and endogenous process of change.L'idée de découverte entrepreneuriale des opportunités profitables ignorées par les autres en tant que force motrice du processus marchand représente la contribution fondamentale de Kirzner à la science économique. Cependant, nous devons disposer de quelque chose de plus concret que la vigilance kirznerienne si nous voulons approfondir notre compréhension du processus de découverte entrepreneuriale et en déduire des implications testables. L'article se fonde sur la distinction qu'opère Kirzner entre la logique des choix et la perception (ou la compréhension) et propose que l'essence de la prise de décision consiste à parvenir à une compréhension et à apprendre comment agir. Un ensemble d'implications au niveau des comportements (telles que l'expérimentation, les habitudes, l'imitation, l'empathie) en découle comme schème d' apprentissage dans des contextes différents. De plus, les conventions émergent en tant que moyens de stabilisation des anticipations mutuelles. La stabilité des conventions, d'un côté, et l'apprentissage dans le temps, de l'autre, créent la possibilité de découverte entrepreneuriale et de processus de changement endogènes.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial discovery; Learning; Innovation; Endogenous Change; Inference; Conventions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002
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DOI: 10.2202/1145-6396.1046

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