Taking the Plunge: Teaching the Microeconomics of Entrepreneurship

William Stull ()

International Advances in Economic Research, 2014, vol. 20, issue 2, 139-150

Abstract: Despite the importance of entrepreneurship in market economies, it is seldom given extensive coverage in undergraduate economics courses. Authors documenting its limited treatment in textbooks call for more in-depth, microtheoretic analyses that go beyond definitions and descriptions. The present paper represents an initial attempt to fill this gap in our pedagogy by describing a simple model of the entrepreneur “plunge” decision that is appropriate for intermediate microeconomics (and related) courses. The model, an extension of Scitovsky’s classic theory of the owner-managed firm, provides a formal analysis of the choice between paid employment and entrepreneurship that is based on utility maximization and takes into account the pecuniary and non-pecuniary benefits/costs of the two options. The intellectual origins and classroom presentation of the model are also discussed. Copyright International Atlantic Economic Society 2014

Keywords: Teaching of Economics; Entrepreneurship; Economic Education; JEL Classification; A22; L26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1007/s11294-013-9456-6

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