Before Schumpeter: forerunners of the theory of the entrepreneur in 1900s German political economy – Werner Sombart, Friedrich von Wieser

Abstract

The paper aims at questioning the conceptual connection between Schumpeter, Sombart and Wieser on entrepreneurship. Using Schumpeter ‘to come back before Schumpeter’, we show which views these authors share on the character of the entrepreneur, the role of the entrepreneurial function in the economic process and the evolution of that notion up until the stage of developed capitalism (Hochkapitalismus). Thus, the entrepreneur appears as a key-stone for building capitalism. Finally, we indeed sketch the ‘spirit of entrepreneurship’ as it emerges from the entrepreneurial function.