Teaching and learning Schumpeter: A dialogue between professor and student

Abstract

Joseph Schumpeter's contributions to economics, including theories about innovation and entrepreneurship, creative destruction, and the debate over capitalism versus socialism, all remain relevant today. There is evidence, however, that Schumpeter's ideas have long received less attention in the classroom than they deserve given the importance economists attach to them. This paper provides a description of a discussion-based course on Schumpeter. Using a dialogue between professor and student before, during, and after the course, we describe the structure of the course and specific details related to content. We also include a syllabus, sources for class materials, and a list of over forty discussion questions. The dialogue allows us to show the dynamic nature of a discussion-based class, something we think Schumpeter would approve.