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Well... the guy should read Schumpeter. Every "industrial" revolution wipes off industries. In the same time, a whole new industry appears, a whole new class of

Well... the guy should read Schumpeter. Every "industrial" revolution wipes off industries. In the same time, a whole new industry appears, a whole new class of jobs and a whole new lifestyle and culture. The middle class is not destroyed at all. On a world scale, it is rising. Rising in China and South East Asia. We can't reduce a world wide phenomenon without taking into account hundreds of other factors ( populations in western countries growing old, the globalization, sacrificed generations in Europe and exodus of its skilled youth ) to Kodak vs Instagram.

nazgulnarsil 13y ago
Everyone should read Schumpeter. He might just be the single most relevant economist to the world today.
- marblar 13y ago
  Do you have a particular example in mind?
  - nazgulnarsil 13y ago
    Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy reads like a play by play of what is happening. Read it, then look at what people like Graham, Thiel, and Andreesen say.
    - parasubvert 13y ago
      Keep in mind, Schumpeter was not a libertarian in the vein of the Austrian school of Mises, Hayek or Rothbard, which seems to underpin modern libertarian thought such as Thiel's. He was more properly a conservative or classical liberal in the tradition of J.S. Mill: supportive of business and the free market, but supportive of "intelligent monopolies" themselves at times, like the early Bell Telephone system... He also met his intellectual opponents (eg. Marxists) with respect (a rare thing these days), and didn't place market economics at the centre of all human activity as is common with libertarian thought which reduces all acts to market transaction.
tks2103 13y ago
which book would you recommend? he's austrian right... are there better or worse translators for his books?
- parasubvert 13y ago
  The English translations have been around a long time and are fine. His most known and discussed work is "Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy". IMO the core of his relevance to Startups and economic growth is his early book "The Theory of Economic Development", which he wrote in his mid-20's at the turn of the century... but wasn't translated until 1934. Drucker puts Schumpeter in context to Keynes: http://druckersociety.at/index.php/peterdruckerhome/texts/modern-prophets-schumpeter-or-keynes http://druckersociety.at/index.php/peterdruckerhome/texts/mo... (though keep in mind this essay was written in the early 80s when depressions were nowhere in sight; Keynes has proven pretty relevant)

nazgulnarsil 13y ago

Everyone should read Schumpeter. He might just be the single most relevant economist to the world today.

marblar 13y ago
Do you have a particular example in mind?
- nazgulnarsil 13y ago
  Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy reads like a play by play of what is happening. Read it, then look at what people like Graham, Thiel, and Andreesen say.
  - parasubvert 13y ago
    Keep in mind, Schumpeter was not a libertarian in the vein of the Austrian school of Mises, Hayek or Rothbard, which seems to underpin modern libertarian thought such as Thiel's. He was more properly a conservative or classical liberal in the tradition of J.S. Mill: supportive of business and the free market, but supportive of "intelligent monopolies" themselves at times, like the early Bell Telephone system... He also met his intellectual opponents (eg. Marxists) with respect (a rare thing these days), and didn't place market economics at the centre of all human activity as is common with libertarian thought which reduces all acts to market transaction.

tks2103 13y ago

which book would you recommend? he's austrian right... are there better or worse translators for his books?

parasubvert 13y ago
The English translations have been around a long time and are fine. His most known and discussed work is "Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy". IMO the core of his relevance to Startups and economic growth is his early book "The Theory of Economic Development", which he wrote in his mid-20's at the turn of the century... but wasn't translated until 1934. Drucker puts Schumpeter in context to Keynes: http://druckersociety.at/index.php/peterdruckerhome/texts/modern-prophets-schumpeter-or-keynes http://druckersociety.at/index.php/peterdruckerhome/texts/mo... (though keep in mind this essay was written in the early 80s when depressions were nowhere in sight; Keynes has proven pretty relevant)