Schumpeterian Entrepreneurship Revisited: Historical Specificity and the Phases of Capitalist Development

Alexander Ebner

Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2006, vol. 28, issue 3, 315-332

Abstract: Schumpeter's theory of entrepreneurship and innovation has been repeatedly interpreted in terms of a conceptual dualism, shifting from an early model of personal entrepreneurship in newly founded enterprises to a late model of research and development in large enterprises, responding to changes in the productive organization of capitalism. Due to theoretical inconsistencies, Schumpeter thus seemingly altered his argument on the role of entrepreneurship in economic development (Freeman et al. 1982, pp. 41–42). In countering these allegations, it has been put forward that Schumpeter's instrumental methodology would allow for settling historical experiences and theoretical reasoning on different analytical levels. Accordingly, the substantial validity of the Schumpeterian approach would remain independent from variable historical settings (Frank 1998, pp. 505–506). Adding to these methodological considerations, it has been suggested that the consistency of Schumpeter's argument could be reconstructed in terms of an explanation of capitalist development that resonates Weberian thought on rationalization and bureaucratization (Langlois 1998b, pp. 57–58).

Date: 2006
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