As an older man, Schumpeter qualified his views to argue that some degree of monopoly might be preferable to competition in creating stronger incentives for companies to innovate. The rationale is simple: If patent protection were limited, or if it were easy for competitors to innovate around intellectual property, a firm in a competitive market would have very little incentive to invest in pathbreaking research and development.
随着年龄渐长，熊彼特的观点也发生了改变，他开始认为，就创造更强的公司创新激励而言，一定程度的垄断可能比竞争更好。其中的原因很简单：如果专利保护有限度，或竞争者很容易就能从知识产权中进行创新，那么竞争性市场的企业就没什么动力投资于突破性研发活动。毕竟，企业充其量只能获得短暂的优势。反过来，如果它限制支出，只是简单地跟随或参照其他企业的研发活动，那么它也可以活得很好，甚至比以前更加滋润。明白了这一点，就不会有人去创新了。