20th century economist Joseph Schumpeter’s ideas can help Canada recover from recession

“Even though he was writing nearly 100 years ago, Schumpeter recognized that the creativity, innovation and ingenuity of entrepreneurs fuels prosperity and growth,” said Russell S. Sobel, professor of economics and entrepreneurship at The Citadel in South Carolina and co-author of the new book. Schumpeter is best known for popularizing the term “creative destruction”—the process where new innovations arise and cause the old way of doing things to disappear. “Schumpeter’s views on entrepreneurship are relevant today, as governments across Canada and around the world try to recover from one of the worse recessions in history,” said Jason Clemens, book co-author and executive vice-president of the Fraser Institute But it’s also important that governments not erect barriers to competition to protect existing firms or subsidize failing firms. Born in 1883 outside Prague in what’s now the Czech Republic, Schumpeter was not a life-long academic. Having also worked in law and finance—and even serving as Austria’s Minister of Finance—Schumpeter returned to academia at Harvard University in the 1930s and was ultimately elected president of the American Economics Association, the first foreign-born economist to hold that title. At EssentialSchumpeter, you can download the complete book and individual chapters for free and view short videos summarizing Schumpeter’s essential ideas.

Media Contact: Russell S. Sobel, Professor of Economics and Entrepreneurship The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina Jason Clemens, Executive Vice-President, Fraser Institute To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact: Bryn Weese, Fraser Institute bryn.weese@fraserinstitute.org