he global economy has just come through a near-death experience. Although it is out of intensive care, it is still not out of danger, and the early rush of euphoria in the spring of 2009 is being replaced by sober recognition of just how massive was the destruction and how steep and how long is the road to recovery.

Creative destruction of this order of magnitude, argued Joseph Schumpeter in 1942 in his seminal Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, erodes the power, profits, and position of older, established firms. It shakes the foundations of economies, sweeps away the debris in a ruthless rush, uproots established orders, and makes space for innovation, for new forms of economic life.