Introduction

The nature of the entrepreneurial role can be clarified by raising three central questions: who is an entrepreneur, what does an entrepreneur do and how does an agent eventually become an entrepreneur? This helps to understand of the Schumpeter–Knight distinction of equilibrium-disturbing versus equilibrium-creating entrepreneurs as an empirical question that only can be researched ex post. Building on this, the entrepreneur is defined as a newly self-employed individual. We further explain how the inclusion of matters conventionally associated with disciplines other than economics may increase the explanatory power of analysis. We further introduce the subject matter, motivate the choice of the case study presented in Part III, and conclude with an outline of the structure of the book.