Hilferding's Influence on Schumpeter : A First Discussion

In the present paper, the origins of some of Joseph Alois Schumpeter’s views are traced back to Rudolf Hilferding’s Finance Capital, regarding the Schumpeterian hypothesis and the separation of roles between capitalists, entrepreneurs and managers. After a careful examination of Hilferding’s writings, the conclusion may be drawn that Schumpeter expresses ideas very similar to Hilferding’s on these issues, and seems to have been influenced by his conceptualisation of a “latest phase” of capitalism, shaped by the structure and functions of the “monopolistic enterprise”. Hilferding’s approach is understood in this paper as a major revision of Marx’s methodological perspective and conceptual understanding of the capitalist mode of production and, therefore, as a “paradigm shift” within Marxian economic theory.