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 process is a process of incessant self-destruction.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The entrepreneur is the man who creates new demand.

The Theory of Economic Development 1934

The capitalist system is a system of constant change.

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

The capitalist process is a process of incessant economic evolution.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The entrepreneur is the man who introduces new combinations of productive means.

The Theory of Economic Development 1934

The capitalist system is a system of continuous progress.

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

The capitalist process is a process of incessant economic development.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The entrepreneur is the man who leads the way.

Attributed

The capitalist system is a system of constant innovation and change.

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

The capitalist process is a process of incessant economic revolution from within.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

Capitalism is by nature a form or method of economic change and not only never is, but never can be, stationary.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

Entrepreneurship is the driving force behind all economic progress.

The Theory of Economic Development 1911

The capitalist process not only destroys its own institutional framework but also creates the conditions for its own supersession.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

Can capitalism survive? No. Do I think it can be indefinitely postponed? No.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The stock exchange is a poor substitute for the Holy Grail.

The Theory of Economic Development 1911

Economic progress, in capitalist society, means turmoil.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

The intellectual's struggle for significance is a perpetual one.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942

Socialism is the heir to capitalism.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942