Routine , creativity and leadership in Schumpeter and von Mises ’ analyses of economic change : a new look at recent debates on routines

The purpose of our contribution is to analyse the notion of routine as it is developed in recent economic literature in the light of two past economists, Joseph Schumpeter and Ludwig von Mises. We will focus on one peculiar feature put forward by the two Austrian economists, namely, on the distinction between adaptive / routine-minded behaviour on one side, and active / creative behaviour on the other. According to us, this feature is worth emphasizing since it permits to shed some new light on the long disputed Nelson and Winter's conception of routines. Our conjecture is that if Nelson and Winter had taken up the aforementioned distinction, they would have developed a richer view of economic behaviour and of its interweaving within the firm or the social environment. * Contribution to the AISPE Conference on “Economics and Institutions: Contribution from the History of Economics”, held in Palermo-Italy, 30 September–2 October 2004. The authors are very grateful to Carlo Zappia for his valuable comments on the paper. ** The authors belong to the Department “Dynamics of Economics, Market and Organizations” of the G.R.E.D.E.G./ C.N.R.S./ University of Nice– Sophia Antipolis. 1 ha ls hs -0 02 71 33 8, v er si on 1 11 D ec 2 00 8 Author manuscript, published in "The Conference Proceedings on "Economics and Institutions". Contributions from the history of economic thought, F. Asso and L. Fiorito (Ed.) (2007) 295-316"