On the intellectual foundations of Hayek's and Schumpeter's economics: an appraisal

摘要

Several contributions have been devoted to a comparison between the works of Joseph Schumpeter and Friedrich Hayek, both of them rooted in the Austrian tradition but they generally concerned specific aspects of their respective global contributions as, for instance, monetary theory, business cycles economic evolution or price theory. These partial comparisons may explain why some confusion is today prevailing concerning the similarities and differences between Hayekian and Schumpeterian approaches. In this paper, we adopt a different approach and try to find the basic theoretical and methodological elements which explain the fundamental compatibility of incompatibility between Hayek's and Schumpeter's respective intellectual projects. Specific aspects will not be, however, underestimated or neglected in this contribution but they will not be considered independently from these basic elements.