Ever since Joseph Schumpeter developed his theory of economic development, economists have been updating and filling in the gaps in his growth model. More than just a uniquely powerful insight, "creative destruction" has been an invitation for scholars to think both broadly and deeply about how innovation works.
CAMBRIDGE – The two books under review are further vindication of Isaiah Berlin’s famous contrast between the fox, “who knows many things,” and the hedgehog, “who knows one big thing.” Dan Breznitz is an empirical fox who has studied regions that have achieved rising prosperity by exploiting various opportunities for innovation in different ways. Philippe Aghion is a hedgehog who for 30 years has played a leading role in formalizing the growth model pioneered by Joseph Schumpeter and using it to understand today’s economy. Together, the two books offer a broad yet rigorous education in the economics of innovation.
Dan Breznitz, Innovation in Real Places: Strategies for Prosperity in an Unforgiving World, Oxford University Press, 2021.
CAMBRIDGE – The two books under review are further vindication of Isaiah Berlin’s famous contrast between the fox, “who knows many things,” and the hedgehog, “who knows one big thing.” Dan Breznitz is an empirical fox who has studied regions that have achieved rising prosperity by exploiting various opportunities for innovation in different ways. Philippe Aghion is a hedgehog who for 30 years has played a leading role in formalizing the growth model pioneered by Joseph Schumpeter and using it to understand today’s economy. Together, the two books offer a broad yet rigorous education in the economics of innovation.