Question Posed
"Do people tend to confuse political and market entrepreneurs? Do most people even understand that there is a difference?" -
Response
I would say that not most people know the difference between political and market entrepreneurs. Going into this week, I did not know the difference between the two. While writing this I asked my teammates if they knew the difference between political and market entrepreneurs, two of them in the business school, and they all answered no. Based on this and my own experience, I would say the difference between political and market entrepreneurs is not common knowledge. Most people know what an entrepreneur is, but do not know how to distinguish between a political and market entrepreneur.
According to Wikipedia, a political entrepreneur is one who looks to gain profit from arrangements the through the government such as subsidies or government contracts. Another definition of a political entrepreneur comes from the World Economic Forum, it states that a political entrepreneur is someone who creates and leads in a political field. I think different definitions may be part of the reason people get confused between market and political entrepreneurs. With different definitions, different perceptions of both types of entrepreneurs are created. A market entrepreneur is one that creates something in a free market. I think another point of confusion comes from both terms being very closely related in their jobs. They both have essentially the same job, but in different fields. A market entrepreneur is working in a free market while a political entrepreneur is working in controlled economy, and they both do their best in those specific environments.