We are not getting our money's worth from "creative destruction." For history buffs, the phrase will be familiar. Coined by Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950) — one of the 20th century's towering economists — it defines a central characteristic of capitalism.
Capitalism expands material well-being by replacing existing technologies, products and business methods with superior substitutes. Though this initially disrupts established industries and communities, it is the main engine of economic progress.
Here is Schumpeter in his "Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy" (1942): "Capitalism ... incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism."
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