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 capitalist system is not only a powerful engine of economic progress but also a powerful engine of social change.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The entrepreneur is the agent of change.

The Theory of Economic Development 1934

The capitalist system is not a static but a dynamic system.

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

The capitalist process is a process of creative destruction.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The entrepreneur is the driving force of economic development.

The Theory of Economic Development 1934

The capitalist system is inherently unstable.

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

The capitalist process is a process of incessant revolutionizing of the economic structure from within.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The entrepreneur is the man who carries out new combinations.

The Theory of Economic Development 1934

The capitalist system is a system of perpetual change.

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

The capitalist process is a process of organic growth.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The entrepreneur is the man who makes things happen.

Attributed

The capitalist system is a system of creative destruction.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The entrepreneur is the man who introduces new methods of production, new products, new markets, new sources of supply, and new forms of organization.

The Theory of Economic Development 1934

The capitalist system is a system of continuous innovation.

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

The capitalist process is a process of incessant economic revolution.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The entrepreneur is the man who breaks through the routine.

The Theory of Economic Development 1934

The capitalist system is a system of dynamic disequilibrium.

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

The capitalist process is a process of incessant transformation.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The entrepreneur is the man who disturbs the equilibrium.

The Theory of Economic Development 1934

The capitalist system is a system of perpetual motion.

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