|Peter Boettke|
I just returned from the 5th annual BB&T conference at the Institute for the Study Capitalism at Clemson University. During the conference I participated on a panel discussing 'The Virtues of Entrepreneurship'. Eric Daniels gave one of the best short discussions of the history of entrepreneurship theory in economics that I have heard in a long time. He also gave one of the fresher discussions of the role of imagination and creativity in the act of entrepreneurship that I have heard.
During his talk Eric quoted Henry Ford: "If I'd asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for faster horses."
So if people do not really know what they want, then maybe the whole idea of preference satisfaction is pretty trivial -- or at least not exogenous to the process by which people have things dangled before them. (I am in a Frank Knight mood right now.)
Posted by: Mario Rizzo | June 04, 2010 at 12:07 PM
I think the quote is misleading. Ford didn't invent the automobile. There was already a demand for cars. He shifted out the supply curve. The quote is actually somewhat ironic given that many people attribute the firm's loss of market share to Henry Ford's lack of interest in what his customers wanted.
Posted by: brad | June 04, 2010 at 02:42 PM
The problem with government is that they give people what they say they want. A good entrepreneur gives people what they never knew they wanted.
Posted by: Troy Camplin | June 05, 2010 at 07:16 AM