IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/33597.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Corridors, Coordination and the Entrepreneurial Theory of the Market Process

Author

Listed:
  • Boettke, Peter

Abstract

Daniel Klein (Klein 1997, Klein and Orsborn 2009 and Klein and Briggeman forthcoming) and Israel Kirzner (forthcoming) have been engaged in a debate concerning how economists should understand and use the terms “coordination” and “economic goodness”. Klein and Briggeman (forthcoming) contend that Kirzner suffers from excessive ambition scientifically. The authors claim Kirzner’s reliance and identification with “the Misesian image of science” threatens to discredit his more sensible contributions (e.g., market processes are driven towards progress by competitive entrepreneurial discovery). We offer a response to Klein and Briggeman’s claim that loose, vague and indeterminate forms of economic reasoning make for a more robust political economy. In doing so, we also explain the theoretical context surrounding Kirzner’s theory of the entrepreneurial market process. While we agree with Klein and Briggeman’s critique of scientism and formalism, we emphasize the nature of the debates over market theory and the price system that Kirzner was engaging in order to understand the reasons behind his methods and the theoretical insights they provide. Rather than the source of his failure, we view Kirzner’s “excessive ambitions” to provide a scientific foundation of the market process as the source of his great success as an economic theorist.

Suggested Citation

  • Boettke, Peter, 2010. "Corridors, Coordination and the Entrepreneurial Theory of the Market Process," MPRA Paper 33597, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:33597
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/33597/1/MPRA_paper_33597.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel B. Klein & Jason Briggeman, 2010. "Israel Kirzner on Coordination and Discovery," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 25(Spring 20), pages 1-53.
    2. Hayek, F. A., 1996. "Individualism and Economic Order," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226320939, June.
    3. Daniel B. Klein & Brandon Lucas, 2011. "In A Word Or Two, Placed In The Middle: The Invisible Hand In Smith'S Tomes," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 43-52, March.
    4. Peter J. Boettke & David L. Prychitko (ed.), 1998. "market process theories," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, volume 0, number 1214.
    5. Peter J. Boettke (ed.), 1994. "The Elgar Companion to Austrian Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 53.
    6. Klein, Daniel & Orsborn, Aaron, 2009. "Concatenate coordination and mutual coordination," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 176-187, October.
    7. Smith, Adam, 1776. "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number smith1776.
    8. Smith, Adam, 2008. "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations: A Selected Edition," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199535927 edited by Sutherland, Kathryn.
    9. von Hayek, Friedrich August, 1989. "The Pretence of Knowledge," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(6), pages 3-7, December.
    10. Scherer, F. M., 2002. "The Free-Market Innovation Machine: Analyzing the Growth Miracle of Capitalism. By William J. Baumol. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002. Pp. xiv, 318. $35.00," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 62(3), pages 912-913, September.
    11. Smith, Adam, 1759. "The Theory of Moral Sentiments," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number smith1759.
    12. Daniel Klein, 2001. "Plea to Economists Who Favor Liberty: Assist the Everyman," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 27(2), pages 185-202, Spring.
    13. Daniel B. Klein, 2009. "In Adam Smith's Invisible Hands: Comment on Gavin Kennedy," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 6(2), pages 264-279, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Martin, Adam, 2012. "Discovering rhetoric: The ecology of enterprise in the Bourgeois Era," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 757-762.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Harper, David A., 2013. "Property rights, entrepreneurship and coordination," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 62-77.
    2. Klein, Daniel, 2009. "Unfolding the Allegory behind Market Communication and Social Error and Correction," Ratio Working Papers 133, The Ratio Institute, revised 17 Feb 2010.
    3. Charles M. A. Clark, 2021. "Editor’s Introduction: Economics and the Option for the Poor," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 80(4), pages 1051-1059, September.
    4. Johann Graf Lambsdorff, 2011. "Economic Approaches to Anticorruption," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 9(2), pages 25-30, 07.
    5. Avner Offer, 2012. "Self-interest, Sympathy and the Invisible Hand : From Adam Smith to Market Liberalism," Economic Thought, World Economics Association, vol. 1(2), pages 1-1, December.
    6. Daniel B Klein & Caroline Breashears, 2022. "By the same author: Presenting Adam Smith's works as a whole," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 528-540, October.
    7. Mehrdad Vahabi, 2011. "Appropriation, violent enforcement, and transaction costs: a critical survey," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 227-253, April.
    8. Yang, Lili, 2021. "Social equity and equity in higher education: A comparison of the liberal Anglo-American and Chinese political cultures," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    9. Klaus Mohn, 2010. "Autism in Economics? A Second Opinion," Forum for Social Economics, Springer;The Association for Social Economics, vol. 39(2), pages 191-208, July.
    10. Justin Yifu Lin, 2007. "Development and Transition : Idea, Strategy, and Viability," Development Economics Working Papers 22709, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    11. Klein, Daniel & Orsborn, Aaron, 2009. "Concatenate coordination and mutual coordination," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 176-187, October.
    12. Li, Cheng, 2014. "Rationality and Beyond: A Critique of the Nature and Task of Economics," MPRA Paper 56651, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Reinhard Neck, 2014. "On Austrian Economics and the Economics of Carl Menger," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 42(3), pages 217-227, September.
    14. Darcy W E Allen, 2020. "When Entrepreneurs Meet:The Collective Governance of New Ideas," World Scientific Books, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., number q0269, September.
    15. Ythier, Jean Mercier, 1998. "The distribution of wealth in the liberal social contract," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 329-347, February.
    16. Dohmen, Thomas, 2014. "Behavioral labor economics: Advances and future directions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 71-85.
    17. John Foster, 2021. "The US consumption function: a new perspective," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 773-798, July.
    18. Ferdinando Meacci, 2009. "Different employment of capitals in vertically integrated sectors: Smith after the Austrians," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 22(4), pages 333-348, December.
    19. Avner Offer, 2012. "Self-interest, Sympathy and the Invisible Hand : From Adam Smith to Market Liberalism," Economic Thought, World Economics Association, vol. 1(2), pages 1-1, December.
    20. David Audretsch & Albert Link, 2012. "Entrepreneurship and innovation: public policy frameworks," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 1-17, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Austrian Economics; Disequilibrium Dynamics; Entrepreneurship; Kirzner; Market Process;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
    • B53 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Austrian

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:33597. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.