Schumpeter and Marx: a comment on a debate

Abstract

Although Schumpeter was deeply influenced by Marx and benefitted a great deal from the latter's achievements in unraveling the law of motion of capitalism, as Rosenberg has convincingly shown, he was not a Marxist, as Rosenberg contended. Contrary to the critics of Rosenberg, the real litmus test in this regard is whether Schumpeter saw profits, like Marx, as resulting from the exploitation of workers. He did not. In fact, he wished to refute Marx's claim, thereby pulling the rug out from under the feet of the socialist critics of capitalism. Copyright 2013 The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.