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Matei Alexandru APĂVĂLOAEI
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
The scope of this paper is to take stock of two already well-established fields of study that are considered cornerstones of the Austrian School of economics: entrepreneurial theory and the theory and comparative study of economic systems. We will argue that this school encompasses two distinct approaches when it comes to the function of the entrepreneur and its quintessential attributes. After dehomogenizing the Mises - Rothbard theory of the entrepreneur from that of Hayek and Kirzner, we will analyse how the differences between these two perspectives spill over into the broader discussion pertaining to the functioning of capitalism. Afterwards, we turn to socialism and interventionism and try to look at these two economic systems as they appear through the lenses of both approaches. Because the Mises - Rothbard tradition sees economic (monetary) calculation and the entrepreneurial division of labour as the primordial features of the market system, under the auspices of socialism, the central planner’s task of rationally allocating scarce resources appears as a necessary impossible feat. In contrast to this, the Hayek - Kirzner approach renders an image of socialism as a system that is highly problematic when actually implemented, but that could work in theory. When it comes to interventionism, the Mises - Rothbard approach shows that all its failures stem from government interference with the natural order of the market, deviating it from addressing the most stringent needs of the consumer. Kirzner’s and Ikeda’s later elaborations emphasize the knowledge problems that are inherent in any government attempt to tinker with the marker process.

ŒCONOMICA no. 1/2017
Keywords: entrepreneurship, economic systems, capitalism, socialism, interventionism, dehomogenization
JEL: B25, B53, L26, P00
Entrepreneurial Theory and Economic Systems – An Austrian View from Two Different Perspectives [Teoria antreprenorială şi sistemele economice – O viziune austriacă din două perspective diferite]