2 ms·
>> I didn't say that; no need for the sarcasm. Fair enough. To be fair, you did overstate the point a bit; I'm sure we will all walk into a small business toda
by runako 13y ago
>> I didn't say that; no need for the sarcasm.
Fair enough. To be fair, you did overstate the point a bit; I'm sure we will all walk into a small business today that could do with one less chair. :-)
>> I'd be interested to see the numbers you have about the share of the economy powered by small/medium businesses. Is it a long, consistent decline, or more of a local minimum?
There's a lot of research out there on this. I don't have the time to dig up much more than this:
http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/rs390tot_0.pdf http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/rs390tot_0.pdf
Note that in 12 years, small businesses lost ~6% of their GDP contribution to larger businesses (table 5). In 2010, small business share of the economy fell below 50% for the first time ever (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-02-16/small-businesss-shrinking-gdp-contribution http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-02-16/small-busine...).
- jeffdavis 13y agoInteresting, thank you. I wonder what is causing that decline? A more libertarian type might say that the increasing power of government is driving small business out through various types of intervention. Evidence would include the ever-increasing share of GDP made up by government spending. This would be countered by the fact that you can still start most kinds of businesses with remarkably little federal involvement aside from taxation. Someone more inclined toward central planning might say that the information age is making central planning more effective. Evidence would include companies like amazon that have amazing reach. That would be countered by the observation that there are still a lot of small businesses that sell through amazon and set their own prices; and amazon has many robust competitors for each product they sell.