Published on Nab Amplify
By Rodric David
History records epochs that impact human behavior and culture in ways that were previously unimaginable. The Industrial Revolution, in a relatively short period of time, materially impacted the lives of all people, industries, businesses, and governments through the invention and commercialization of new technologies.
These innovations impacted trade, products, society, art, and culture. The exploitation of many new technologies, inventions, and processes empowered entrepreneurs to conceive of new and fantastic opportunities.
Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, studying the rapid changes that occurred during the Industrial Revolution, recognized that growth in a capitalist society happened through the introduction of innovations which create chaos and structural change in society. In 1942 he characterized the entrepreneur as the source of the “creative destruction” necessary for major economic advances.