Joseph A. Schumpeter

The Economics and Sociology of Capitalism
Stefania Palmarini

About Joseph A. Schumpeter
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He was born on 8 February 1883 in Triesh, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1908, he enrolled at the University of Vienna. In 1906, he received his doctorate of law. In the early spring of 1919, he became Minister of Finance in the New Austrian. His political career didn’t last long: the political failure and the Austrian situation very hopeless forced Schumpeter to resign in October 1919. In 1925, he accepted professorship in public finance at the University of Bonn. After some years, he emigrated to the United States where he became a professor of economics at Harvard University. Schumpeter died on January 1950.

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Schumpeter’s evolution: from European period to American period
European Schumpeter
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American Schumpeter
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This phase began in 1906 and ended in 1932(Schumpeter left Germany). Works belonging to his early period are:The Nature and Essence of Theoretical Economics(1908), The Theory of Economic Development(1911) and Economic Doctrine and Method(1914). In this works, Schumpeter outlines a “theoretical economics” and the importance of the “sociological way of thinking”.

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This phase began in 1932(Schumpeter arrived in the United States) and ended in 1950 with his death. Works belonging to this period are: Business Cycle(1939), Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy(1942), and History of Economic Analysis(1954). In this works, Schumpeter went beyond “theoretical economics” and explored the economic phenomenon in its totality, emphasizing history’s importance in economics.

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About the book
This book is an anthology published in 1991, edited by Richard Swedberg. It contains book’s extracts, written by Schumpeter during the European and the American period. It emphasizes his broad socio-economic vision and his attempt to analyze economic reality from several different perspective.