Entrepreneur

The Entrepreneur performs the function of carrying out "new combinations" of labor, natural resources or capital goods for the purpose of making a profit. The entrepreneur is distinct from the capitalist because he does not risk capital while the capitalist does. The above distinction is part of the "imaginary construction of functional distribution as different from from actual historical distribution." Individuals, in the market economy, often perform both functions.

According to Ludwig von Mises:

"[Economics] also calls entrepreneurs those who are especially eager to profit from adjusting production to the expected changes in conditions, those who have more initiative, more venturesomeness, and a quicker eye than the crowd, the pushing and promoting pioneers of economic improvement."

Mises suggests the term "promoter" for this second definition of entrepreneur.

"The driving force of the market, the element tending toward unceasing innovation and improvement, is provided by the restlessness of the promoter and his eagerness to make profits as large as possible."

Examples of Entrepreneurship

A recent example of entrepreneurship is facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. After winning Times 2010 person of the year Zuckerberg said:

"If you create value for other people then you might be able to realize a portion of that value yourself. I never thought about facebook as starting a business that would grow its own value, but its really good that the world works this way. If someone does something that is valuable, that is enough to build a good business based off of. I don't think that I focus on the same thing that other business people do. But every day we just come in and try and build the best product for people." (emphasis added)

Other notable living entrepreneurs are Steve Jobs (Apple), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Richard Branson (Virgin).