Creative destruction describes the process by which new innovations continually replace and render obsolete the products, firms and industries that came before, driving economic growth through this cycle of entry and displacement. Joseph Schumpeter popularized the term in his 1942 book Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, calling it the essential fact about capitalism, though the underlying idea of productive destruction has roots in earlier writing, including Marx. It remains the standard economic account of why long run growth requires firms and jobs to be destroyed as well as created, and why protecting incumbent firms from competition can slow the innovation it is meant to encourage.
Facts
Proposed BySchumpeter himself credited the underlying idea of productive destruction to earlier writers, including Marx; his own 1942 book is what named and popularized the term. SignificanceCreative destruction remains the standard economic account of why long-run growth requires firms and jobs to be destroyed as well as created, and why protecting incumbent firms from competition can slow the innovation it is meant to encourage. 1 Classification
Concept Form Connections
Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationCreative destruction
Joseph Schumpeter popularized and is most associated with the modern understanding of creative destruction
Creative destruction, Origin section
This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism.
Introduction, concept-form
Creative destruction describes the process by which new innovations continually replace and render obsolete the products, firms and industries that came before, driving economic growth through this cycle of entry and displacement.
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