Joseph Alois Schumpeter: The Public Life of A Private Man.

STOPLER, Wofgang F.

$200.00

Item Number: 4401

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994.

First edition of this biography on Schumpeter. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author, “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Wolfgang Ann Arbor, MI Dec. 12, 1994.” From the library of noted economist Richard Musgrove. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.

In 1938 Wolfgang Stolper completed his economics studies at Harvard University where he was a student of Joseph Schumpeter. In 1941 Stolper together with Paul A. Samuelson proposed the Stolper–Samuelson theorem. In this major scholarly study of the life of Joseph A. Schumpeter, one of the great intellectual figures of the twentieth century, the distinguished economist Wolfgang Stolper delves into the mind of his former teacher, exploring the development of his ideas and, especially, their influence on politics and public policy. After reflecting briefly on Schumpeter the man, Stolper explains the evolution of Schumpeter's work, particularly his insights during the 1920s on public finance, his contributions to monetary theory and the study of business cycles, and his writings on socialism. Stolper goes on to describe and evaluate Schumpeter's public activities following World War I and his role as a finance minister, placing the development of his thought in the turbulent political context of his times. Drawing on a vast array of sources, Stolper paints a portrait of his mentor as a decent, ambitious, and complex man whose many insights into economy and society found their way outside of the academy and into the practical world of economic policy.