Neo-Schumpeterian economics is a school of thought that places technological innovation at the core of economic growth and transformation processes. It is inspired by the work of

Joseph Schumpeter Joseph Alois Schumpeter (; February 8, 1883 – January 8, 1950) was an Austrian political economist. He served briefly as Finance Minister of Austria in 1919. In 1932, he emigrated to the United States to become a professor at Harvard Unive ...

who coined the term

creative destruction Creative destruction (German: ''schöpferische Zerstörung'') is a concept in economics that describes a process in which new innovations replace and make obsolete older innovations. The concept is usually identified with the economist Josep ...

for the continuous introduction of technological change that drives growth by replacing old, less productive structures with new, more productive ones. Where Schumpeter explained the innovation drive by an exogenous factor called entrepreneurial spirits, neo-Schumpeterian economists refer to endogenous factors such as science and technology policies and corporate strategies of

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

to explain innovation. Neo-Schumpeterian economics is a form of

evolutionary economics Evolutionary economics is a school of economic thought that is inspired by evolutionary biology. Although not defined by a strict set of principles and uniting various approaches, it treats economic development as a process rather than an equil ...

and closely related to innovation studies.

History

In the aftermath of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, policymakers became increasingly convinced of the importance of science and technology policy. Quantitative research into the relation between economic growth and science and technology expenditures became a possibility with the global application of

national accounts National accounts or national account systems (NAS) are the implementation of complete and consistent accounting Scientific technique, techniques for measuring the economic activity of a nation. These include detailed underlying measures that ...

in the 1950s and the adoption in 1963 of the Frascati manual, an internationally accepted approach to measuring science and technology expenditures. In 1966 the

Science Policy Research Unit The Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) is a research centre based at the University of Sussex in Falmer, near Brighton, United Kingdom. Its research focuses on science policy and innovation. SPRU offers MSc courses and PhD research degrees. ...

(SPRU) was founded at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

which started a systematic and sustained research effort regarding long-term economic transformations and science and technology policy. Christopher Freeman, who was involved in the development of the Frascati Manual and was the first director of SPRU, published in 1974 his seminal book "The economics of industrial innovation". Together with Richard Nelson and Bengt-Ake Lundvall he coined the concept of National innovation systems. The international Joseph A. Schumpeter Society was founded in 1986 at the initiative of Wolfgang Stolper and Horst Hanusch. Since 1988 it awards the biennial Joseph A. Schumpeter award. In 1991 the Journal of Evolutionary Economics was founded that serves as a forum for the approach of economics in the tradition of Schumpeter.

References

Innovation economics Schools of economic thought Eponymous economic ideologies {{econ-hist-stub