This is the first book to resolve the profound paradox between Schumpeterian innovation and ecological limits by proposing a complete, synthetic economic framework. It moves beyond the established debate between green growth and degrowth by introducing Post-Schumpeterian Economics (PSE), a novel approach designed to strategically re-direct the engine of creative destruction toward achieving long-term sustainability. The research and its outcomes presented here offer a unique integration of the dynamism of Schumpeter with the ecological foundations of Georgescu-Roegen, providing a new lens for understanding twenty-first-century challenges.

A major objective of this monograph is to validate this theoretical framework with rigorous, large-scale empirical analysis. The book presents an unprecedented data-driven typology of the diverse transition pathways being pursued across the G-20, G-7, and BRICS nations. Drawing on a comprehensive dataset and employing extensive cluster analysis, it reveals that there is no singular global transformation, but rather multiple, distinct archetypes. This comparative analysis-contrasting the innovation-led, high-risk approaches of the United States and China with the more balanced, policy-driven strategies in Europe-provides an invaluable map of the current geopolitical landscape of decarbonization.

By bridging this new theoretical model with robust empirical evidence, this work provides scholars, students, and policymakers with an actionable perspective on one of the most urgent and complex challenges of our time. It identifies strategic levers for transformation, including market-based mechanisms and state-led technology policies, offering a powerful tool for designing effective pathways to a sustainable future.

Autorentext

Horst HANUSCH

Professor emeritus, Institute of Economics, University of Augsburg. During his academic career he wrote and published numerous books and articles on Public Economics and Schumpeterian Theory. He is the co-founder (together with Wolfgang Stolper) of the International Joseph A. Schumpeter Society and was its Secretary General until 2022. He is also the Founding Editor of the Journal of Evolutionary Economics and Honorary President of the International Institute of Public Finance. His current research interests focus on a Post-Schumpeterian frame for Public Finance as well as Economic Development Theory.

Yasushi HARA

Associate Professor, Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University. Prior to his current position, which he has held since April 2022, he served as a Research Associate at the Institute of Innovation Research, Hitotsubashi University; a researcher at the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Research Center (SciREX Center) at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS); a Michelin Fellow at the France-Japan Research Center on Contemporary Japan (CEAFJP/EHESS) at the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris; and a Lecturer at the Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan.