The concept was popularised by Austrian political economist Joseph Schumpeter in the 1940s, and describes how old ideas, technology and businesses are displaced by new ones. If creation is the primary protagonist of economic growth, destruction is a necessary evil. In tandem, they enable people, capital and other resources to be redeployed more efficiently in the economy.

"For much of the 20th century, high rates of firm entry, job reallocation and entrepreneurial risk-taking kept American productivity surging ahead,” says Ufuk Akcigit, professor of economics at the University of Chicago.

Over the past decade, tariff and non-tariff trade barriers have risen globally, partly in reaction to a political backlash against the perceived threat of foreign competition to jobs and industries. Finance plays a role too. When overabundant or poorly targeted, it can preserve less efficient firms. Deborah Lucas, professor of finance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says economic bailouts have become “unnecessarily frequent and wide-ranging.”

Preach, missy!

That doesn’t mean creative destruction is doomed. AI is driving disruption. Higher average interest rates could flush out zombie firms.