ABSTRACT
In 1942, economist Joseph Schumpeter sounded a wake-up call for capitalism with a prediction so disturbing that it makes Nostradamus seem tame. Schumpeter’s book Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy foretold of the demise of the Western world’s central institution for innovation, prosperity, and growth: capitalism. Schumpeter believed that capitalism would ultimately result in a system of corporations and elitists that had lost sight of the core values of capitalism, namely the importance of the entrepreneur. At the same time, Schumpeter foresaw a tremendous increase in the number of educated people, but thought there would not be enough meaningful work for all of them. To simplify Schumpeter’s often tedious writing: he expected high unemployment, crushingly large corporations, and elite academics to bring about the death of capitalism.
