Schumpeter’s “Business Cycles” Revisited

Christopher Freeman
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Christopher Freeman: SPRU, University of Sussex

European Journal of Economic and Social Systems, 2015, vol. 27, issue 1-2, 47-67

Abstract: In this lecture from the end of the 1990s, until now unpublished, Chris Freeman analyses the possible reasons for the relative lack of receptivity awarded to Schumpeter’s Business Cycles. He suggests that the insufficient success may be due, not to the heavy style or the doubts about statistical validity, but rather to the weaknesses in the theory. According to Freeman, Schumpeter was right in pointing to the qualitative changes in the structure of the economy as the causes of the spring and ebb tides in growth rates. Where he was weak was in his theories of innovation, entrepreneurship and technology. The article analyses each of these theories, discussing their strengths and shortcomings, and then looks at how the neoSchumpeterians have been contributing to further the strengths and overcome the weaknesses. The article concludes inviting researchers to continue following Schumpeter’s pioneering insights into the theories of innovation and long cycles. RÉSUMÉ. Dans cette conférence de la fin des années 1990, non publiée jusqu’à maintenant, Chris Freeman recherche les raisons possibles du relatif manque d’attention accordé au Business Cycles de Schumpeter. Il suggère que ce faible succès pourrait être dû non pas à la lourdeur du style ni aux doutes quant à la validité statistique, mais plutôt à des faiblesses de la théorie. Selon Freeman, Schumpeter avait raison de montrer que les changements qualitatifs dans la structure de l’économie étaient la cause des flux et reflux de croissance. Mais il y a des faiblesses dans ses théories sur l’innovation, l’entrepreneuriat et la technologie. L’article analyse chacune de ces théories, discutant leurs points forts et leurs lacunes, et regarde ensuite comment les néo-schumpetériens ont contribué à faire avancer les points forts et dépasser les faiblesses. L’article conclut en invitant les chercheurs à poursuivre les idées pionnières de Schumpeter dans les théories de l’innovation et des cycles longs.

Keywords: Schumpeter; economic history; evolutionary economics; growth and fluctuations; long waves; techno-economic paradigms; technological revolutions; Kondratiev cycles; capitalist system; heterodox economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A00 B50 N00 O30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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