This paper analyzes the theory of “entrepreneurial incentives” in the work of Israel Kirzner. It argues that there is a logical problem with the notion of profit opportunities as exogenous causal agents: Without additional assumptions, the existence of opportunities alone does not...

This paper critically examines some underlying assumptions of the "popular" economics writing of recent years, e.g. the Freakonomics literature. I examine two problems that emerge from these writings. First, popular economics is myopic in that it views incentives as the fundamental economic...