This book provides a unified and comprehensive analysis of the work of Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1883-1950), the world-famed economist ranked with John Maynard Keynes. Although Schumpeter is well known for his work on economic development and innovation, his aim to construct a universal social science addressing the evolution of mind and society is usually ignored. A major contribution to the history of economic thought, this book will be the standard of Schumpeter scholarship for years to come.
It was at the fifth SEEP-Conference on Economic Ethics and philosophy in autumn 1997 that the organizational work of the seventh conference in 1999 was entrusted to the editors of this volume. Prof. Peter Koslowski, series editor of The Studies in Economic Ethics and Philosophy, SEEP, expressed the hope that the SEEP-Conference be held in the Far-East for the fist time would bring a new comparative aspect to economic ethics and philosophy. Further, the agenda of economic ethics seemed to increase its significance also in Japan and other Asian countries especially due to the spread of corruption in the government and business under the financial crisis that attacked these nations in the late 1990s. Though we chose "Com petition, Trust, and Cooperation" as the general theme of the conference, this should include the collusion, distrust, and corruption as the opposite side of the medal. The conference was held on March 10-12, 1999 at the Kansai Seminar House of the Nippon Christian Academy, Kyoto, Japan. Fourteen papers were submitted to the conference. In addition to twelve papers that are printed in this volume, Prof. Ruisheng Wang (Capital Normal University, Beijing) read his paper on ethical problems in the context of Asian financial crisis and Prof. Agnar Sandmo (Norwegian School of Economics and Busi ness Administration) did the same by his paper on societal aspect of the competition promotion policy.
To trace the development and transformation of their ideas, this book covers not only the leading figures of the school such as Adam Muller, Wilhelm Roscher, Karl Knies, Lujo Brentano, Gustav von Schmoller and Werner Sombart, but also those who are proved to be closely related to the thought of the Historical School in different ways such as Carl Menger, Anton Menger, Friedrich von Wieser, Max Weber, Joseph Schumpteter, Tokuzo Fukuda, Walter Eucken, Wilhelm Ropke and Alfred Muller-Armack.