Welcome
Acclaimed as the “father of modern economics” Cantillon was a “Gallicised merchant, banker and adventurer who wrote the first treatise on economics more than four decades before the publication of the Wealth of Nations.” Most famous for his ‘Essay on the Nature of Commerce in General’ or ‘Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en General’ which was written in French in the early 1730s, but not published until 1755, some years after his death. The Essai, comprises of three major parts, which have been characterised by Frederick A. Hayek as: On Wealth or Production, On Exchange, On International Trade. Download Brochure
Entrepreneur
It is in the first part of the Essai that the first known source of the term ‘entrepreneur’ is found. Cantillon describes an entrepreneur as having a distinct function apart from wage earners and people hired for labour. In Cantillon’s writing entrepreneurs were responsible for bringing about competition and the decentralisation of markets through the application of entrepreneurial decision-making and risk-taking.
Richard Cantillon spent most of his life in France as a wealthy Paris banker and London merchant. He spent some time in London during his early career where he was an Assistant to the British Paymaster James Brydges. It is believed that this is where he became skilled in accounting, negotiating, banking and international finance. He died in a fire at his home in London, allegedly set by his discharged cook.
Summer School
The first Cantillon Summer School will take place in Ballyheigue, Co. Kerry from July 15th – 17th, 2009. The Summer School is a joint initiative between Kerry County Enterprise Board, the South West Regional Authority and local interest groups.
The primary aim of the Summer School is to commemorate the Ballyheigue born Economist, Richard Cantillon (1680-1734). The event has been designed to provide workshops, debates and lectures that are exciting and attractive to academics, 3rd level economic and business students and entrepreneurs alike
