Schumpeter traced capitalism’s crises to a distinctive capital structure.

Evidence

These “certain conditions” were elaborated upon a decade later in another authoritative volume, this time by a collection of Harvard economists. In it Joseph Schumpeter, an Austrian émigré and follower of the work of other Austrian economists of the period, such as Hayek and Von Mises, argued that capitalism has at any given point a distinct “capital structure,” that long-run evolutionary form alluded to earlier, which manifests itself as the particular mix of productive assets that investment has generated over a given cycle. When there are investment booms, as there inevitably are in capitalism, both “too much” and “too much of the wrong type” of capital is invested in the economy. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 322

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the capital structure concept, Schumpeter’s distinctive theoretical core.
• XREF: Connects to Austrian economics lineage (Hayek, Mises) relevant to Mattei’s austerity intellectual history. — connects to: Schumpeter predicted socialism via competition’s centralizing effects, not capital’s contradictions — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at…, 949; Schumpeter explained austerity’s failure through the bureaucratization of large firms — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 349; Schumpeter saw capitalism’s rationalization destroying the entrepreneur’s heroic social function — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 350 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Schumpeter explained austerity’s failure through the bureaucratization of large firms #corroborates (0.80) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 349
• Schumpeter saw capitalism’s rationalization destroying the entrepreneur’s heroic social function #corroborates (0.80) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 350
• Schumpeter predicted socialism via competition’s centralizing effects, not capital’s contradictions #qualifies (0.75) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 949
• Schumpeter predicted capitalism’s end from entrepreneurial decline. #qualifies (0.75) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 263