Entrepreneurship is a subject that is commonly taught and researched in business schools, but seldom if at all in economics departments. Consequently, most books on entrepreneurship tend to be written from a business and management perspective. Such books often downplay, or ignore altogether, the contribution of modern economics to our understanding of the subject. Indeed, it is common to find them referring to ‘the contribution of economics’ mainly in terms of the treatises of Frank Knight and Josef Schumpeter – works that were published more than half a century ago! Of modern economics, there is little mention, apart from the occasional disparaging remark that competitive general equilibrium theory leaves little or no room for the entrepreneur, so modern economics has little to offer the study of the subject.

The present book hopes to convince the reader that the foregoing is an unduly negative assessment, by reviewing the many contributions that modern economics has brought, and continues to bring, to our understanding of self-employment and entrepreneurship. These contributions include rigorous analyses of occupational choice (‘what economic factors help explain who becomes an entrepreneur?’); the efficiency and economic impact of entrepreneurial ventures (‘what is the economic importance and value of entrepreneurship?’); and the appropriate role of governments with respect to entrepreneurship (‘what is the rationale for intervening in the market economy to encourage entrepreneurship?’).