Joseph A. Schumpeter Libri

Il volume raccoglie due capitoli tratti dalla prima edizione della "Teoria dello sviluppo economico": la principale tra le opere di Schumpeter, nonché una delle più rilevanti del pensiero economico del Novecento. Pubblicata nel 1911, l'opera conobbe una seconda edizione, profondamente modificata, nel 1926. In essa, fu eliminato il settimo capitolo, mentre il secondo fu interamente riscritto. Sebbene dal punto di vista della "arida dottrina economica" poco mutasse, le differenze si rivelarono considerevoli quanto ai contenuti più propriamente sociologici. Il radicalismo elitistico fu alquanto attenuato, il profilo del soggetto imprenditore assunse tratti molto meno netti, decisamente meno ambizioso si rivelò essere il quadro generale e la "visione" sociologico-culturale d'insieme. Quali che fossero le ragioni che condussero a questi mutamenti, è indubbio che l'autore li considerasse almeno in parte imposti dalle circostanze e da vere e proprie interpretazioni infondate. La lettura dei due testi qui tradotti contribuisce perciò a una più completa comprensione dell'opera schumpeteriana. Non solo. Il loro esplicito legame permette di apprezzarne, ancor prima, la notevole originalità entro un contesto teorico quello della grande Vienna.

Al momento di prendere congedo dall'Università di Czernowitz, nel novembre 1911, Schumpeter tenne una conferenza presso il Sozialwissenschaftlichen Akademischen Verein, una sorta di lezione di commiato, dalla cui rielaborazione trasse in seguito Passato e futuro delle scienze sociali. Pubblicato nel 1915, dopo che era già apparsa la magistrale Teoria dello sviluppo economico, il breve testo presenta una rapida e a tratti corrosiva analisi della genesi e degli sviluppi possibili delle scienze sociali, al cui centro l'autore pone quei "conflitti tra scuole" che rappresentano il perno della sua originale sociologia della conoscenza. L'opera si misura con la genesi dello statuto delle scienze sociali ed è da leggersi quale anticipazione di quella che sarà la fondamentale parte introduttiva della postuma History of Economic Analysis (1954).

La prima sezione del volume presenta cinque scritti, per la prima volta editi, di Schumpeter. Quattro di questi scritti, costituiscono tre capitoli aggiuntivi del trattato della moneta, i cui primi dodici capitoli sono stati pubblicati postumi in tedesco e sono stati recentemente tradotti in italiano. Il quinto di questi scritti, posto in appendice, è presumibilmente una nota per gli studenti di dottorato dell'Università di Harvard che riprende argomenti esaminati nel capitolo XIV del trattato. Nella seconda parte del volume si presentano tre saggi monetari pubblicati in tedesco tra il 1913 e il 1927

At the time of his death in 1950, Joseph Schumpeter was working on his monumantal History of Economic Analysis. Unprecedented in scope, the book was to provide a complete history of economic theory from Ancient Greece to the end of the second world war. A major contribution to the history of ideas as well as to economics, History of Economic Analysis rapidly gained a reputation as a unique and classic work. As well being an economist, Schumpeter was a gifted mathematician, historian, philosopher and psychologist and this is reflected in the multi-disciplinary nature of his great endeavour. Topics addressed include the techniques of economic analysis, contemporaneous developments in other sciences and the sociology of economics. This inclusiveness extends to the periods and individuals who figure in the book. As well as dealing with all of the major economists from Adam Smith to Maynard Keynes, the book considers the economic writings of Plato and Aristotle, of the Medieval Scholastics and of the major European economists. Throughout, Schumpeter perceived economics as a human science and this is reflected in a volume which is lucid and insightful throughout.

The book, originally published in 1952, is a seminal work that has been reissued with a contemporary introduction by Professor Mark Perlman. This introduction emphasizes the book's significance for students and situates it within its modern context, showcasing its enduring relevance and impact on current academic discussions.

Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950) is one of the most fascinating and influential economists of the twentieth century, renowned for his brilliant and unorthodox insights into the nature of capitalism. His students include leading economists such as Paul Samuelson, Robert Solow and the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan. The Theory of Economic Development is one of Schumpeter's most important books and the one that made him famous. He poses a fundamental question: why does economic development proceed cyclically rather than evenly? Turning prevailing economic theory, which approached economics as equilibrium, on its head, Schumpeter argues it is because economics is constantly transformed by its own internal forces. These forces are the 'circular flow' of economic life; economic development, characterised by disruption and innovation; and finally, the levers that push and pull capitalism including credit, profit and interest. These are all manifested in the business cycle', one of Schumpeter's major contributions to understanding economics and now a perennial feature of virtually all economics and business curricula. He is also the first economist to place the entrepreneur at the heart of capitalism, anticipating subsequent fascination with entrepreneurship in popular business and management writing. Schumpeter also lays the groundwork for his subsequent, highly influential idea of the 'creative destruction' characteristic of radical and rapid economic change. The Theory of Economic Development remains a vital, magisterial account of economics and the nature of capitalism whose many insights remain highly relevant today. This Routledge Classics edition includes a new Introduction by Richard Swedberg

Considered by many economists to be the finest analysis of capitalism ever written, Can Capitalism Survive? introduces Joseph A. Schumpeter's theory of "creative destruction," stating that in capitalist economies new innovations erode the position of established firms while also providing new and previously unforeseen avenues of economic growth. Today the effects of such advancements as Mp3s—replacing CDs, which in turn had replaced cassettes and vinyl records—have proven his ideas correct. Prophetically arguing that capitalist societies are also subject to "perennial gales" of destruction that wipe away fortunes, this great economist revealed the vast, often chaotic economic landscape of world capitalism. First published in Schumpeter's classic Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, here is an invaluable guide the global economy.

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy remains one of the greatest works of social theory written in the twentieth Century. Schumpeter's contention that the seeds of capitalism's decline were internal, and his equal and opposite hostility to centralist socialism have perplexed, engaged and infuriated readers since the book's first publication in 1943. By refusing to become an advocate for either position, Schumpeter was able both to make his own great and original contribution and to clear the way for a more balanced consideration of the most important social movements of his and our time.

Schumpeter's "Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy" is a seminal work synthesizing nearly forty years of thought on socialism and its relationship with democracy. The book explores five central themes, offering a unique analysis while reflecting the author's extensive research and insights into these political and economic systems.