The Power of Creative Destruction: Economic Upheaval and the Wealth of Nations

Philippe Aghion, professor at the Collège de France and the London School of Economics and Political Science, presented his new book, The Power of Creative Destruction: Economic Upheaval and the Wealth of Nations at the Peterson Institute for International Economics on April 20, 2021. PIIE president Adam S. Posen moderated the Q&A and discussion with the audience.

Aghion and his coauthors Céline Antonin and Simon Bunel address calls for radical change in the economic system by examining today’s most fundamental economic questions, from the roots of growth and inequality, to competition, globalization, secular stagnation, and more. They show that innovations enabled by free-market capitalism improved our standard of living and argue for state intervention with appropriate checks and balances to maintain economic creativity while managing the social disruption that innovation leaves in its wake.

PIIE president Adam S. Posen moderated the Q&A and discussion with the audience.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Aghion is a professor at the Collège de France and the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a fellow of the Econometric Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. With Peter Howitt, he pioneered the so-called Schumpeterian growth paradigm that was subsequently used to analyze the design of growth policies and the role of the state in the growth process.