Entrepreneurs, institutions and economic change

the long version

Entrepreneurs, Institutions and Economic Change offers a close analysis of J.A. Schumpeter's work from the Austrian period by treating his writings as an organic whole regardless of their economic, social or political character. Professor De Vecchi's analysis bears out Schumpeter's thesis that capitalist motion is the result of the interaction of individual initiative and institutional intervention. The first part outlines the theory of economic change and considers issues such as entrepreneurship, the non-competitive credit market and the relationship between banks and the central bank. Money and the fiscal state are addressed in the second part through Schumpeter's work on money as a unit of account, the problem of the acceptance of legal tender, and the scope and limits of the quantity theory of money. The economic role of the state and Schumpeter's financial programme for reconstituting the Austrian economy in 1919 are also considered. The final part examines Schumpeter's ideas on income distribution, social classes and the political structure of capitalist society.