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Recapturing the Spirit of Enterprise

George Gilder

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Founder connections

  • Marc AndreessenCaptured recommendation
    A captured April 2020 thread links Gilder’s book as a companion to Andreessen’s It’s Time to Build essay, emphasizing economic systems that encourage entrepreneurship.
    Source

Summary

George Gilder argues that entrepreneurship drives economic growth and that people who create wealth need freedom to pursue opportunities and reinvest what they learn. This revised edition of The Spirit of Enterprise examines the relationship between enterprise, ownership and public policy. Gilder’s case links entrepreneurial knowledge with the ability to put resources to work, presenting an argument for economic arrangements that support new businesses.

  • SourceGeorge Gilder: The Enigma of Entrepreneurial Wealth — licensed book adaptation · October 1, 1992; author byline and explicit adaptation from Recapturing the Spirit of Enterprise
  • SourceGeorge Gilder: Recapturing the Spirit of Enterprise — first-party lecture · Author lecture; explicit discussion of the book’s Capitalism Without Capitalists chapter
  • SourceRecapturing the Spirit of Enterprise — CiNii institutional catalog · 1992 revised ICS Press edition; ISBN 1558152016

Why read it Our view

Useful for examining the link between incentives, ownership and the work of creating a business. Read Gilder’s argument alongside your own experience, then ask which conditions let people test an idea and use what they learn.