From words to facts. In previous studies a wide range of evidence on entrepreneurship has been examined: from data on minorities who have been discriminated against, to data on the emergence of the entrepreneurial trait within some well-defined historical circumstances (the Industrial Revolution), to a detailed examination of the relationship between patents (taken as a crude proxy for “novel ideas”) and changes in people's position in the distribution of wealth. The picture that emerged from all the verifications are similar: Within groups that suddenly fell behind, or following periods of deepening depressions, the entrepreneurial trait surfaced (although not always directed toward business, but sometimes toward criminal activities too – as indeed one should expect).

The facts presented in this and in some of the following chapters complement the pictures provided in Brenner (1983, 1985) and also regroup additional, scattered, at times forgotten evidence on entrepreneurship gathered by researchers in numerous disciplines. Before discussing them let's reemphasize some crucial points in the model presented in the previous chapter in order to justify the search for the type of evidence presented next.

First, the model suggests that not “the poor” but those who perceive themselves threatened and falling behind in wealth and status will tend to bet on novel ideas. This implication of the model immediately suggests that one must look at the problem in a historical perspective – both the history of the individual and that of the society within which his expectations were shaped matter.