Schumpeter’s Business Cycles

Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1949. Original red canvas boards; xii, 255 pp. First Edition — Third Printing. Francis M. Bator’s personal copy with his name and ​“Dec. 1949” in fountain pen on the flyleaf, approximately 56 pages of heavy underlining and insightful marginalia (numbering of concepts, footnote cross-references, and statements of explanation). Very good, spine fading and light rubbing to boards (and of course, Bator’s notations). Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) was an Austrian-American economist, Professor, and Finance Minister. He is considered one of the most influential economists of the early 20th century and popularized the term ​“creative destruction”. Schumpeter’s doctoral advisor was Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk. Schumpeter is especially known for his work on the business cycles. This is his earliest full-length book on the subject. In German it was published in 1911 as Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung. Francis M. Bator’s numerous underlining and marginalia help us understand the development of his thoughts as applied to this classic work.