Schumpeter and the end of Western Capitalism

Schumpeter’s forecast in his Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1942) that ‘a socialist form of society will inevitably emerge from an equally inevitable decomposition of capitalist society’ did great damage to his reputation. This was especially so after the fall of the Berlin wall, when the spectre of Communism seemed to have been finally exorcised. The current financial crisis, however, has vindicated him. For Schumpeter, capitalism rightly meant, not just individual property rights, but the ability to ‘create money from nothing.’ This is such an enormous and dangerous power that it obviously has to be subject to the strictest constraint, which was traditionally provided, however imperfectly, by denial of incorporation with limited liability to those who dealt in money. The decline of capitalism began when financiers were released from this discipline, and it ended with the catastrophe caused by belief that bureaucratic control could replace it. The cause of the change was the progressive capture of democratically elected politicians by interests. On this, Schumpeter’s The Crisis of the Tax State (1918) was almost as insightful as his later book. When Governments could not allow banks to fail, they signalled the definitive arrival of centralized financing, which is a fundamental characteristic of a socialist economy.     

Joseph Schumpeter and Thorstein Veblen on technological determinism,individualism and institutions

This article investigates Joseph Schumpeter's affinities with Thorstein Veblen with respect to technological change and determinism, the future of capitalism, individualism and institutions. From a methodological point of view, a common point in their analysis is their anti-teleological view regarding economics as a discipline. Also, in the Schumpeterian system, technology is the cornerstone of economic evolution and appears as the making of new combinations. In the Veblenian theoretical framework, the bearer of change is to be found, inter alia, in technology, just like in Schumpeter's works, although not without differences. They also share the opinion that technology revolutionises capitalism and has serious implications for its future as a system. Furthermore, regarding individualism, in his work Schumpeter stresses the importance of the social milieu on individual action, a fact which bears strong resemblance to the Veblenian notion of evolution as ‘depersonalized evolution’. In this sense, Schumpeter is very close to Veblen, although Schumpeter's approach could be classified in what is called institutionalist individualism, whereas Veblen could be classified as holist. Undoubtedly, the role of institutions is of great importance in both Schumpeter and Veblen. Ιnstitutions in the Schumpeterian schema play a central role closely related to the future of capitalism. Institutional and non-institutional factors enter into complex forms of interaction just like in Veblen's approach. There, institutions are part of the social milieu and their underlying framework, much wider than mere economic and social. Of course, the theoretical analyses of Schumpeter and Veblen are not devoid of differences springing mainly from their methodological approach such as the role of the individual in the capitalist process which is probably the most significant difference regarding the importance attributed to it in Schumpeter's early works. Also, the way technical change appears constitutes another difference. However, his views are quite close to Veblen's. After all, Schumpeter began to write in a social, political, theoretical and ideological environment at a time when evolutionary ideas dominated social thought.     

The impact of Fisher's Purchasing Power of Money in the German Language Area

Abstract

The paper focuses on the reception of Fisher's Purchasing Power of Money in the German language area. Despite widespread hostility of German economists to quantity theory, it was Germany where Wicksell's Interest and Prices was published in 1898, and the first foreign language translation of Fisher's book appeared in 1916. The hyperinflation in the early 1920s contributed to a greater interest in Fisher's approach. Among those economists who took the equation of exchange not only as a heuristic device, but also made some notable contributions themselves were Schumpeter, Marschak and Neisser.     

Perspectives on Michael A. Bernstein's A Perilous Progress: Economists and Public Purpose in Twentieth-Century America *

The article compares Joseph Schumpeter's well-known perspectives of long term economic development with those put forward in the 1920's by the German economist Werner Sombart who followed an approach of ‘theoretical historicism’. There was general agreement between Schumpeter and Sombart that capitalism as an economic system was on the decline. Whereas according to Sombart this was attributable to a tendancy towards stagnation; in Schumpeter's view capitalism was doomed due to its success, not for its failure. The strongest parallels are to be found with respect to forces driving the transformation process, at the end of which Schumpeter expected a socialist system whereas Sombart envisioned some kind of mixed economy. The article also discusses the relevance of differences of approaches and of value judgments for the results of both authors' investigations.     

Industry innovativeness,firm size,and entrepreneurship: Schumpeter Mark III?

Emphasizing the dynamics in economies and industries, Schumpeter points to entrepreneurs carrying out ‘new combinations’. His work, and in particular the Theory of Economic Development, is often interpreted as praising individual entrepreneurs setting up new firms to contribute to an industry’s innovativeness. This has come to be referred to as the Schumpeter Mark I perspective. Later, however, in his Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, Schumpeter has rather suggested that large incumbents are best positioned to contribute to an industry’s innovativeness (Schumpeter Mark II). In this discussion, however, the possibly different effects of structural as opposed to dynamic industry competitiveness is often not taken into account. In addition, the contribution of new and small firms to industry innovativeness are often conflated. Using New Product Announcements as a measure of innovation, we find that industries dominated by small firms prove consistently and significantly more innovative than industries where large firms dominate. Taking account of industries’ structural and dynamic levels of competition, we find that high existing and increasing levels of new firms entering an industry, exercising what Schumpeter called the ‘entrepreneurial function’, actually decrease industry innovativeness. We conclude that the contribution of small firms in terms of industry innovativeness is different from that of large as well as new firms, suggesting a Schumpeter Mark III perspective.     

Aristotle vs. Plato: The classical origins of capitalist & socialist political economies*

Competing definitions of justice in Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics indicate the existence of two distinct economic systems with different priorities. The three-class society of the Platonic economy (guardians, auxiliaries, producers) gives rise to guardians who by virtue are expected to enforce output targets on producers directly or through auxiliaries. The three-class society of the Aristotelian economy (rich, middle, poor) facilitates the emergence of different ruling coalitions and compensates the efficiency losses of central planning with political gains derived from representative governance. In the Aristotelian economy, the middle class is better off than in the Platonic economy (auxiliaries), because a just society (polity) is achieved under its coalition with the rich. I argue that the equilibrium solutions of the Platonic and Aristotelian economic systems provide analytical insights on the origins of capitalist and socialist political economies.     

Schumpeter’s Split Between “Pure” Economics and Institutional Economics: Why Methodological Individualism Was Not Fully Considered

While Joseph A. Schumpeter is classified as a pioneer of evolutionary economics in a wide sense and of entrepreneurship and innovation management in a narrower sense, Schumpeter is less known for his contributions in the area of scientific methodology and history of science. The paper deals with methodological premises in Schumpeter’s scientific positioning. In 1908, in his Das Wesen und der Hauptinhalt der theoretischen Nationalökonomie, Schumpeter developed and pioneered his methodological individualism which is very much acknowledged. However, comparing these early positions with methodological writings in his History of Economic Analysis (1954) shows that he has not really shifted from methodological individualism to an institutional perspective that addresses the academic interplay and sees economic action rooted in historical predispositions, paths and social constraints.     

Schumpeter’s Theory of Economic Development: 100 years of development

This article sheds light on the impact of Schumpeter’s Theory of Economic Development over the last 100?years, and identifies insights from that work that are less well-known, but that have the potential for informing current developments in evolutionary economics. We identify these insights by tracing the development of Schumpeter’s ideas in Theory of Economic Development, which he revised heavily between the first and second German and the English editions. We not only report material lost in the process and developments in Schumpeter’s thinking that can be read off of the revisions, but also indicate how the newfound material can inform and inspire evolutionary economics today.     

The Methodology of Economics and the Survival Principle Revisited and Revised: Some Welfare and Public Policy Implications of Modeling the Economic Agent

In contemporary political economic analyses of development processes, Hernando De Soto's The Mystery of Capital, has been one of the most discussed, albeit controversial, books. Although well received by global development agencies such as the World Bank, a key exponent of De Soto's work, positing that the creation and institutionalisation of individual property in housing and land revives “dead capital” and creates the conditions that will enable the poor to emerge from abject poverty, has been widely criticised. These criticisms show that (1) the thesis is flawed, (2) the flaw is due to implementational problems and (3) the practical implications arising from the thesis are largely neutral and will neither improve nor worsen poverty. Although agreeing with the first criticism, this paper argues that the second critique must be nuanced, and the third is entirely mistaken. Utilising insights from Joseph Schumpeter, Karl Polanyi and Henry George, it makes the case that applying De Soto's ideas through policy would be ineffective in curbing urban poverty, and actually serve to simultaneously entrench and augment it. Moreover, while finding that De Soto's assumption that the poor possess some economic agency is sound and may, indeed, secure socially beneficial outcomes through pursuing innovative and entrepreneurial endeavours, De Soto's conception of such processes remains largely emasculated from broader political economic considerations.     

Lange's 1938 model: dynamics and the “optimum propensity to consume”

Abstract

Oskar Lange's 1938 article “The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume” is usually associated with the original IS-LM approach of the late 1930s. However, Lange's article was not only an attempt to illuminate Keynes's main innovations but the first part of a wide project that included the development of a theory of economic evolution. This paper aims at showing that Lange's article can help in illuminating critical aspects of this project: in particular, Lange's idea that a synthesis between Kaldor's and Kalecki's theories and that of Schumpeter, might have been possible and that it represented (in intentions) a “modern” and consistent reconstruction of the Marxist theory of the business cycle. Section 2 clarifies Lange's early reflection on dynamics. Section 3 centres on Lange's 1938 static model and indicates the effects of a change of saving on investment. Section 4 suggests a dynamic reconstruction from which are addressed important arguments raised by Lange in a series of papers written between 1934 and 1942.     

From bounties on exportation to the natural and market price of labour: Smith versus Ricardo

Abstract

The scope of this article is to examine the foundations of Smith's arguments and of Ricardo's criticisms on the issue of bounties on exportation. These criticisms are examined in the light of the counter-criticisms provided by a fictitious subject called Smith redivivus. These counter-criticisms highlight Ricardo's neglect of the differences between vérité de raison and vérité de fait and between the points of view of an individual and of society behind Smith's treatment of money vs. real, temporary vs. permanent and natural vs. market price of labour as labour and of commodities as products of labour.     

From the laws of human nature to capital accumulation: James Mill's analysis of the states of society in the Elements of Political Economy

Abstract

James Mill's Elements of Political Economy is usually treated as a textbook of Ricardian political economy. Although this might be justified, there is a passage in this Ricardian textbook that is not Ricardian. The passage deals with Mill's analysis of the states of society, in which he underlines the laws of human nature conducive to capital accumulation. This paper investigates such states.     

Innovation types and labour organisational practices: A comparison of foreign and domestic firms in the Reggio Emilia industrial districts

In his Theory of Economic Development, Schumpeter introduced the distinction between different innovation types. Since then, a variety of studies have addressed this topic. However, despite of the recognised significance of more de-verticalised organisational forms in shaping and directing firms' innovative performance, no attempt has been made, as far as our knowledge is concerned, to investigate whether these practices are linked to the introduction of specific innovation types. The aim of the study is to fill this gap by investigating the impact of de-verticalised forms of labour organisational practices, different modes of organising research and development activity and the nature of employees' competences on the likelihood of introducing different types of innovations, controlling for firm's size and sectoral specificities. The results obtained on a sample of 199 firms located in Reggio Emilia province in Italy confirm that innovation development is a heterogeneous activity. The empirical evidence gathered also shows that foreign and domestic firms do not differ, to some extent, in the introduction of different kinds of innovations. However, being foreign or domestic is a discriminating factor in the introduction of innovations stimulating labour organisational developments.     

How did it all begin? Adam Smith on the early and rude state of society and the age of hunters

Abstract

Scholars tend to examine Smith's historical approach as a whole from the perspective of the four stages theory. This leads to a neglect of Smith's ability to use history in different ways as his different purposes require. This article distinguishes Smith's recourse to primitive society with respect to his purposes in Wealth of Nations and in Lectures on Jurisprudence. In the former, Smith analyses the capitalist economy, thereby laying emphasis on capital and the division of labour in his account of wealth. In the latter, he explains the evolution of institutions in order to challenge contractarian accounts of government.     

Emil Lederer’s Theory of Economic Fluctuations and the Role of Financial Institutions

Abstract

Emil Lederer was characterized as the “leading academic socialist of Germany in the 1920’s” by Joseph Schumpeter and was a highly respected economist of his time. However, most aspects of his work remain totally unexplored. This paper focuses on Emil Lederer’s theory of economic fluctuations defending the thesis that certain aspects of Lederer’s conceptualization of economic fluctuations underwent considerable modifications when his 1925 article Konjunktur und Krisen is compared with his 1938 book Technical Progress and Unemployment, a shift unacknowledged so far in the literature. In his first attempt to tackle the issue, in Konjunktur und Krisen (1925), Lederer had constructed an explanation consistent with the so-called “disproportionality theory” introduced by Tugan-Baranowsky (codified as “early Lederer”). However, Lederer’s conception of the business cycle during the 1930s and especially in his major work Technical Progress and Unemployment underwent considerable modifications. Lederer’s (1938 Lederer, E. 1938. Technical Progress and Unemployment, Geneva: King and Son.  [Google Scholar]) analysis is, apparently, very ‘Schumpeterian’ (codified as “late Lederer”). In this version of his theory, the cycle is explained by supply-side factors, and more specifically by technical change. Additionally, Lederer’s view on the role of financial institutions (credit and banks) with regards to business cycles is analysed. Lederer avoided attributing a causative role to monetary factors. The interrelation between ‘real’ factors and financial institutions constitutes an essential element in his analysis of the business cycle.     

Towards an Austro–German theory of uneven economic development? A plea for theorising by inclusion

Based on Meir Kohn’s distinction between research programmes based on ‘value’ and ‘exchange’ (2004), this paper argues for a ‘production’ paradigm based on the tradition of Menger and Schumpeter. It is suggested that this production-based programme could use, as its starting point, Schumpeter’s (Wesen und Hauptinhalt der theoretischen Nationalökonomie, 1908) attempt to mediate in the Methodenstreit by arguing that different types of economic problems require theories at different levels of abstraction. This opens up for ‘theorising by inclusion’, an approach combining key elements both of traditional German economics and of Austrian economics in the Mengerian tradition.     

Wealth and sensibility. The historical outcome of better living conditions for all according to Adam Smith

In this paper, I argue that Smith's commercial society is characterised more by restraint of self-command than by restraint of emotions through self-command, as usually stated. According to Smith, the appropriate degree of self-command varies with historical circumstances: better living conditions for all favour relaxation of self-command and lead people to express their sentiments more freely. I thus highlight a crucial link in Smith's thought between variations in general economic conditions and variations in moral judgement on the expression of emotions, or, in other words, between The Theory of Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations.     

International Joseph A. Schumpeter Society 10th ISS Conference

Announcement

International Joseph A. Schumpeter Society 10th ISS ConferenceInnovation, Industrial Dynamics and Structural Transformation: Schumpeterian Legacies, Università Bocconi, Milan, 9-12 June 2004     

Adam Smith's Ethics and the “Noble Arts” 1

Adam Smith's character-based ethical system lays the foundation for his vision of the social and economic good. Within this system, the arts perform a critical role. Smith's essays “Of the Imitative Arts” and his Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres are useful companions to The Theory of Moral Sentiments in analyzing the mechanisms whereby literature and the arts excite moral development. The arts stretch the boundaries of imagination and perspective, stimulating self-awareness and self-reflective growth. When combined with rational thought, decision-making takes place through an internal dialogue in which this wider perspective weighs upon one's “impartial spectator” and becomes the background for action. According to this view, the arts provide positive externalities for society and should be encouraged through public policy. The arts promote a conversation that becomes part of the common goods of society, including that of science.     

A MARKET WITH A SOCIAL CONSUMPTION EXTERNALITY*

We model a spatial market in which the utility of each consumer is affected by the consumers who buy precisely the same product. The marginal contribution of consumers x's purchase on consumer y depends on |x–y|, which declines as |x–y| increases. Such modelling of preferences fits goods that signal a consumer's place in society—clothing styles, automobiles and jewellry are examples. For 2n + 1 firms we find the unique symmetric equilibrium and derive comparative statics on the optimal number of firms, the largest number of firms the market can support, and the behaviour of profits per firm as n increases.