Creative destruction

Jeffrey Muldoon and Douglass Smith

Chapter 7 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Innovation Management, 2025, pp 24-26 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Creative destruction, one of the most important topics within the entrepreneurship, economics, and innovation literature, has a long and distinguished history. Creative destruction is the process through which new innovations replace older products, forcing capital to move from the dying industry to the newer, emerging one. Most scholars associate creative destruction with the writings of Joseph Schumpeter, the enfant terrible of the Austrian School of Economics. Schumpeter's concept of creative destruction is often misunderstood. Firstly, as this entry will demonstrate, creative destruction had a history before Schumpeter. Secondly, although Schumpeter justified capitalism through creative destruction, he nevertheless was skeptical about the long-term prospects of the free market because it invited tremendous social upheaval. Thirdly, we will discuss creative destruction from the perspective of both economics and sociology.

Keywords: Creative Destruction; Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Economic growth; Joseph Schumpeter; Technological change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035306442
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