ABSTRACT
The crucial role of the entrepreneur in economic theory was first and foremost recognized by Richard Cantillon (1680?–1734?), whose Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général was published posthumously in 1755, after circulating privately for two decades among a small group of French economists. Although several French writers borrowed freely from Cantillon’s manuscript during its private circulation, it was relatively neglected after its publication until it was rediscovered in the nineteenth century by William Stanley Jevons, a pioneer in neoclassical economics. Today, Cantillon’s Essai is rightfully considered a classic of early economic literature. Jevons enthusiastically called it “the cradle of political economy.”
