经济类毕业论文外文翻译.doc

2. The importance of small and medium size firms to economic growth mainstream economists increasingly accept that the fundamental force behind sustained improve-ment in the standard of living of market economies is creative destruction, as described by Schumpeter (1934). In the process of creative destruction, the continual emergence of “creative”new ideas underlies the sustained growth of capitalist economies. The ongoing “destruction”of firms that fail to innovate is the less attractive, but essential, aspect of economic growth (Acs and Audretsch, 1991; and Audretsch, 1995). 2.1. Creative destruction and smaller firms Schumpeter argued that innovations give firms temporary monopolies: until someone else dupli-cates or betters their innovation, they have no competitors on the same playing field. Since developing, producing, and marketing products based on new ideas is costly, Schumpeter felt these temporary monopolies to be essential: they generate funds to finance further innovation. Because large firms are most able to develop and retain expertise in these areas, and thus reap maximum returns on their temporary monopolies, Schumpeter (1942) saw innovation as increasingly an activity of very large companies. He feared that the increasing bureaucratization of big companies, which was becoming evident even in his timemight eventually choke innovative effort in large firms and lead to macroeconomic stagnation. In fact, in the modern economy, innovation remains largely the work of smaller firms. In a study of previously stagnant industries, Acs and Audretsch (1988) find the correlation of patents with rate of product and production innovation to be quit low among larger firms, but to be much higher among smaller firms. In short, larger firms are less successful innovators. The same study also finds that industries in which large firms appear more dominant have higher levels of innovative activities, but these innovative activities mostly occur in smaller firms in t