But
even honest and productive entrepreneurs often earn more money in one
year than Albert Einstein did in his entire life. This strikes many -
especially academics - as unfair. Surely Einstein's contributions to
human knowledge and welfare far exceed anything ever accomplished by
sundry businessmen? Fortunately, this discrepancy is cause for
constructive jealousy, emulation, and imitation. It can, however, lead
to an orgy of destructive and self-ruinous envy.
Entrepreneurs recombine natural and human resources in novel ways. They
do so to respond to forecasts of future needs, or to observations of
failures and shortcomings of current products or services.
Entrepreneurs are professional - though usually intuitive -
futurologists. This is a valuable service and it is financed by
systematic risk takers, such as venture capitalists. Surely they all
deserve compensation for their efforts and the hazards they assume?
Exclusive ownership is the most ancient type of such remuneration.
First movers, entrepreneurs, risk takers, owners of the wealth they
generated, exploiters of resources - are allowed to exclude others from
owning or exploiting the same things. Mineral concessions, patents,
copyright, trademarks - are all forms of monopoly ownership.
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