Joseph Alois Schumpeter

Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung

Methodisch wie inhaltlich bildet der bisher vorgeführte Gedankengang eine Einheit; er soll eine in sich geschlossene Auffassungsweise einer Reihe miteinander eng verwandter wirtschaftlicher Erscheinungen darbieten. Um einen Gedankengang, eine Betrachtungsweise, eine Tatsachengruppe hat es sich für uns gehandelt. Allein es liegt in der Natur der Sache, daß bei jedem Schritte, den wir auf unserm Wege zurücklegten, jeweilig ein konkretes Problem im Vordergrunde stand und unser Interesse dem da zu erzielenden konkreten Resultate, der Erschließung des Verständnisses eines einzelnen Phänomens galt. Das Wesen der kapitalistischen Wirtschaft, des Unternehmergewinnes, des Zinses, der Krisen, das waren die hauptsächlichsten Einzelprobleme, um die es sich für uns handelte und um derentwillen die dargelegte Auffassungsweise zunächst entwickelt wurde. An ihnen hat sich dieselbe zu bewähren und ihrer Lösung sollten die im zweiten Kapitel aufgestellten Erklärungsprinzipien in erster Linie dienen. Aber immerhin hat die Sache – ebenso wie die statische Auffassungsweise – noch eine andre Seite, es haben die Konturen unsres Gedankenganges noch eine andre Bedeutung, und zwar nach der Richtung des Problems der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung als solcher hin. Wir wollen nun also unsern Kurs etwas ändern und, wenn auch mit Reserve und in Kürze, einen Schritt nach dieser Richtung hin tun. Zu diesem Zwecke sollen die folgenden Erörterungen zunähest einige Punkte der vorhergehenden Ausführungen zusammenfassend präzisieren und ihnen sodann einiges Weitere ergänzend hinzufügen, jedoch im Rahmen derselben und auf ihre wesentlichen Elemente beschränkt bleiben. Das Folgende steht und fällt mit dem Vorhergehenden, bezieht sich überall darauf und geht nirgends weiter als es unser Zweck erfordert. Der erste Schritt zu einer Analyse des gesamten Prozesses des Wirtschaftslebens wird durch die statische Theorie getan. Sie erklärt uns einen

The Creative Response in Economic History

Economic historians and economic theorists can make an interesting and socially valuable journey together, if they will. It would be an investigation into the sadly neglected area of economic change.As anyone familiar with the history of economic thought will immediately recognize, practically all the economists of the nineteenth century and many of the twentieth have believed uncritically that all that is needed to explain a given historical development is to indicate conditioning or causal factors, such as an increase in population or the supply of capital. But this is sufficient only in the rarest of cases.

On the Concept of Social Value

It is but recently that, in pure theory, the concept of social value came into prominence. The founders of what is usually called the modern system of theory, as distinguished from the classical, never spoke of social, but only of individual value. Recently, however, the former concept has been introduced by some leaders of economic thought, and has quickly met with general approval. To-day it is to be found in nearly every text-book. Since it is generally used without careful definition, some interest attaches to a discussion of its meaning and its role; and it is the purpose of this paper to contribute to such a discussion. The reader is asked to bear in mind, first, that our question is a purely methodological one and has nothing whatever to do with the great problems of individualism and collectivism; further, that we shall consider the question for the purposes of pure theory only; and, finally, that we confine our inquiry to the concept of social value without including several other concepts which also have social aspects.

Ten great economists from Marx to Keynes

Originally published in 1952, this seminal work is reproduced here with a new introduction by Professor Mark Perlman, a well-known Schumpeterian scholar. The essays, written between 1910-50 were primarily commemorative pieces marking the achievement of a celebrated economist. Those covered include: * Marx * Walras * Menger * Marshall * Pareto * Bohm-Bawerk * Taussig * Fisher * Mitchell * Keynes The appendix includes articles on lesser-known economists Knapp, Von Wieser; Von Bortkiewicz. With the exception of Marx, Schumpeter himself selected the ten main essays for inclusion in this volume and was personally acquainted with all but two of his subjects. Initially considering them unworthy for publication he relented in the face of public demand since the journals in which they originally appeared were difficult to obtain. The new introduction places this work in its contemporary context and highlights its importance for students unfamiliar with the original.

Theoretical Problems of Economic Growth

It is with some diffidence that I submit the following notes which I have not been able to work up into a fully developed argument. The inartistic use of numerals has been resorted to in order to mark off clearly the various problems touched upon.

Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923)

Introduction, 147. — I. The Man, 149. — II. The Theorist, 153. — III. The Sociologist, 167.

The Communist Manifesto in Sociology and Economics

IS paper is to appraise the position of the Communist Manifesto in Ithe history of scientific sociology and economics and incidentally in Marxs own scientific work (Secs. III and IV). Some of the necessary framework will be provided and some extra-scientific aspects will be noticed first (Secs. I and II). But I wish to emphasize at the outset that this is in no sense an essay in Marxology, that is, in what has by now become a special discipline of Marx the man and the thinker; and also that, but for an inevitable minimum, I shall neglect many of those things that readers might expect to find in a centenary appraisal. Very obviously, the Manifesto was more than a piece of analysis. But it is as a piece of analysis that I am going to discuss it, without any intention, if this need be added, of either debunking or glorifying it. I

The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.

Part I. Introduction: 1. The general theory 2. The postulates of the classical economics 3. The principle of effective demand Part II. Definitions and Ideas: 4. The choice of units 5. Expectation as determining output and employment 6. The definition of income, saving and investment 7. The meaning of saving and investment further considered Part III. The Propensity to Consume: 8. The propensity to consume - i. The objective factors 9. The propensity to consume - ii. The subjective factors 10. The marginal propensity to consume and the multiplier Part IV. The Inducement to Invest: 11. The marginal efficiency of capital 12. The state of long-term expectation 13. The general theory of the rate of interest 14. The classical theory of the rate of interest 15. The psychological and business incentives to liquidity 16. Sundry observations on the nature of capital 17. The essential properties of interest and money 18. The general theory of employment re-stated Part V. Money-wages and Prices: 19. Changes in money-wages 20. The employment function 21. The theory of prices Part VI. Short Notes Suggested by the General Theory: 22. Notes on the trade cycle 23. Notes on mercantilism, the usury laws, stamped money and theories of under-consumption 24. Concluding notes on the social philosophy towards which the general theory might lead.

Wesley Clair Mitchell (1874–1948)

Introduction, 139. — I. The formative period, 140. — II. Views on policy, ideology, and theory, 142. — III. Business Cycles, 1913, 146. — IV. The National Bureau and Measuring Business Cycles, 151.

The Meaning of Rationality in the Social Sciences

The paper starts with a presentation of three interrelated theses based on conceptual differentiations needed to account for the semantic complexity of the concept of rationality. The first thesis relates to the concept of observer’s rationality. The logic of observation does not differ in respect to different types of object. Therefore rationality in the social sciences is in accordance with scientific rationality in general. The second thesis argues that the rationality of the observer is sufficient for economic and sociological inquiry, as demonstrated by the example of time series analysis. The third thesis refers to particular characteristics of human action that pertain to analysis in the social sciences. In many cases rationality of the observer in economics and sociology is tied to an assumption that the actor behaves with rationality (subjective rationality) in selecting the ends of action and the norms regulating social relationships. The three theses are then discussed in a context of reexamination of the works of historically important theorists, including the physiocrats, Bentham , Marx , Marshall , and Pareto , as well as more general methodological and philosophical traditions. (Eds.)