Joseph Schumpeter

Economics Austrian-American 1883 – 1950 318 quotes

Creative destruction, entrepreneurship theory

Most quoted

"In capitalist reality as distinct from its textbook picture, it is not that kind of competition which counts but the competition from the new commodity, the new technology, the new source of supply, the new type of organization which commands a decisive cost or quality advantage and which strikes not at the margins of the profits and the outputs of the existing firms but at their foundations and their very lives."

— from Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, 1942

"The function of the entrepreneur is to reform or revolutionize the pattern of production by exploiting an invention or, more generally, an untried technological possibility for producing a new commodity or producing an old one in a new way, by opening up a new source of supply of materials or a new outlet for products, by reorganizing an industry and so on."

— from The Theory of Economic Development, 1934

"The opening up of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from the craft shop and factory to such concerns as U.S. Steel illustrate the same process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one."

— from Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, 1942

All quotes by Joseph Schumpeter (318)

The economic system is not a static mechanism, but a dynamic process.

Lecture

The entrepreneur is not a risk-bearer, but an innovator.

The Theory of Economic Development 1911

The capitalist system is not only a system of production, but also a system of destruction.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The capitalist process incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The entrepreneur is not a capitalist, but a leader.

The Theory of Economic Development 1911

The capitalist process tends to socialize itself.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The entrepreneur is the man who gets things done.

Lecture

The capitalist system is a system of progress and change.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The capitalist system is doomed to failure, not because it is inefficient, but because it is too successful.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The entrepreneur is the engine of economic growth.

Lecture

The capitalist process is a process of incessant revolution.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The capitalist system is a system of constant flux.

Business Cycles: A Theoretical, Historical, and Statistical Analysis of the Capitalist Process 1939

The entrepreneur is the man who creates new markets.

Lecture

The entrepreneur is the man who introduces new methods of production.

The Theory of Economic Development 1911

The entrepreneur is the man who discovers new sources of supply.

The Theory of Economic Development 1911

The entrepreneur is the man who organizes new industries.

The Theory of Economic Development 1911

The entrepreneur is the man who exploits new technological possibilities.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The entrepreneur is the man who brings about economic development.

The Theory of Economic Development 1911

The entrepreneur is the man who introduces new products.

The Theory of Economic Development 1911

The capitalist process is a process of incessant creation.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942