If you mostly believe in capitalism, then the link is basically: people being productive = more stuff gets done, and if they're earning money for it, that means

If you mostly believe in capitalism, then the link is basically: people being productive = more stuff gets done, and if they're earning money for it, that means people are happy to pay for it. So basically, productivity is a good thing in general. I'd wager most economists would say that productivity is the single most important thing to improve in general, though they'd be talking about the economy in general, and YC is interested in taking specific people and making them more productive. The same principle applies though - more stuff is done, and if someone is paying for it, it must in genearl be good. (There are obviously exceptions to this - cheating/scamming/doing illegal things, etc).