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Kirznerian Entrepreneurship and The Economics of Science
Originally published in Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines
The paper argues that scientific activity, despite exhibiting characteristics congenial to the economic way of thinking, cannot be generally studied as a catallactic process under prevailing institutional arrangements. Recent changes in the institutional context of science, however, suggest a widening scope for treating science as a market activity.
The paper distinguishes two types of entrepreneurial activity in terms of their institutionally relevant contexts. Type 1 (Kirznerian) entrepreneurship refers to catallactic activity in which coordinating mechanisms, operating via the exchange of property rights, generates market prices. We identify Type 2 entrepreneurship with noncatallactic processes.
The paper argues that scientific activity, despite exhibiting characteristics congenial to the economic way of thinking, cannot be generally studied as a catallactic process under prevailing institutional arrangements. Recent changes in the institutional context of science, however, suggest a widening scope for treating science as a market activity.
Read the article at Berkeley Electronic Press.
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