The surprising decline of entrepreneurship and innovation in the West

The surprising decline of entrepreneurship and innovation in the West(phys.org)

24 points by jasonsamoa 6 years ago | 6 comments

sinuhe69 6 years ago |

When I looked at the numbers and the measurements it was not necessary the case at all. For example, the author used the ratio of patents/GDP or number of new enterprises/total number of businesses as indicators for entrepreneurship, but who says there must be more patents when the GDP becomes larger? Or I can not see why the number of new enterprises should increase when the population remains relatively stable and the number of businesses is already big. They are the normal phenomenon of a mature economy and not necessary showing a decline in entrepreneurship and innovation.

ReptileMan 6 years ago |

And of course there is the changing culture of the West - people are becoming more and more risk averse - any type of risk. That seeps into all kinds of activities. Could be affecting appetite for starting business too.

subject118 6 years ago | |

I think this is spot on. My parents came from nothing but through entrepreneurship became well-off. That said they would rather me join the military for 20 years then become an entrepreneur. Same with my peers throughout high school and college. Very few if any had ambition to venture into entrepreneurship.

Other possible factors: negative sentiment towards business, less hours available to focus on business because of social media and video games etc, higher barriers to entry(though the argument can be made for the opposite too)

iagovar 6 years ago |

Could this graph be relevant here? https://m.imgur.com/a/UIck2qD

jasonsamoa 6 years ago | |

A lack of entrepreneurship is reducing current generational wealth perhaps?

iagovar 6 years ago | | |

I'd say the opposite, lower generational average savings produces less entrepreneurship, as less people is capable of funding little adventures or have a bed to fall back to. If everyone needs to pitch from the ground to investors, starting a business becomes way more difficult.

It's only a guess, of course.