Microbusiness and growth and the pursuit of happiness

Posted on | July 7, 2009 | 1 Comment

I was going to write about something else today, but this caught my eye.

To quote Dr. Jeff Cornwall, “Scott Shane is at it again.”

Dr. Shane is a professor of entrepreneurship at Case Western. People keep asking him to write about small business, which I find kind of odd because, if we judge him by his writing, he does not like them at all.

He certainly doesn’t like microbusinesses.

He does not appear to like people very much, either.

He is quoted in an article in CNN as saying this:

From a societal point of view, if you have a group of people who do something that makes them happier but less productive (which the data support), and you aggregate that, then entrepreneurship is an economic drain. If the goal of the policymaker is to make everybody in your country happy, then let everybody start businesses.

But most policymakers seek to create jobs and promote growth. If that’s your goal, you want to stop all these people from starting marginal businesses that don’t go anywhere and devote the resources to encouraging high-growth companies.

Setting aside the statistical sleight-of-hand Shane uses to support his argument (which Dr. Cornwall deals with much better than I ever could), let me get this straight.

Dr. Shane thinks that policy makers should discourage the citizens from pursuing happiness. Evidently, the pursuit of happiness may be an iconic cultural phrase for our country and it may be quite poetic, too, but it’s an economic drain and should be done away with, if possible.

After all, everybody knows that there mere happiness of mere people is wholly unimportant and, in any relevant circumstances, should be sacrificed for economic growth.

What the heck is the matter with this man? I wonder if he kicks puppy dogs, too?

(Or maybe he is just wandering around being inhuman and controversial in order to sell books?)

And, just out of curiosity, what is the point of all that growth? Clearly, its purpose is not to make people lives better, since we don’t care about their happiness. Or is something wrong with my logic?

Live well = Be happy

So, we want the economy to engage in cancerous growth at the expense of the happiness of mere people in said economy for what reason?

What is the point of all that growth? Ever-increasing standards of living?

What if there is a point at which the “mere people” are no longer interested in increased standards of living? What if they prefer an improved standard of life?

And what if they discover (as so many of us have) that, beyond a certain point, the fevered pursuit of economic growth is incompatible with the very human and humane pursuit of happiness?

What do you think would happen, Dr. Shane, if we put it to a vote? After all, last time I checked, we live in a democracy.

Would the American people prefer policies that help them do what they want to do (like the home office deduction, which Shane thinks we should get rid of)?

Or would the prefer policy to get rid of those in favor of policies that would make the economy grow more … bearing in mind that recent history demonstrates that the rising productivity tide has not lifted all boats?

I’m sure it all looks lovely on paper, Professor.

Maybe you should get out more often.

Comments