Big is Beautiful: Debunking the Mythology of Small Business

Robert D. Atkinson and Michael Lind

谁不喜欢大的？

        －揭穿小企业的神话

 

　　[美] 罗伯特•阿特金森（Robert D. Atkinson）
　　　　　　 迈克尔•林德（Michael Lind） 

　　Why small business is not the basis of American prosperity, not the foundation of American democracy, and not the champion of job creation.
　　为什么小企业不是美国繁荣的基础，不是美国民主的根本，也不是创造就业的冠军？

 

In this provocative book, Robert Atkinson and Michael Lind argue that small business is not, as is widely claimed, the basis of American prosperity. Small business is not responsible for most of the country's job creation and innovation. American democracy does not depend on the existence of brave bands of self-employed citizens. Small businesses are not systematically discriminated against by government policy makers. Rather, Atkinson and Lind argue, small businesses are not the font of jobs, because most small businesses fail. The only kind of small firm that contributes to technological innovation is the technological start-up, and its success depends on scaling up. The idea that self-employed citizens are the foundation of democracy is a relic of Jeffersonian dreams of an agrarian society. And governments, motivated by a confused mix of populist and free market ideology, in fact go out of their way to promote small business. Every modern president has sung the praises of small business, and every modern president, according to Atkinson and Lind, has been wrong.
　　世人普遍认为小企业是美国繁荣的基础，但在这本颇有争议的书中，罗伯特•阿特金森和迈克尔•林德却认为并非如此。小企业可不负责该国大多数的就业创造和创新。美国的民主并不取决于存在一群勇敢的自雇公民。小企业也没有在整体上受到政府决策者的区别对待。相反，阿特金森和林德认为小企业不是就业之源，因为大多数小企业都倒闭了。唯一一类有助于技术创新的小企业是技术型新创企业，而其成功则有赖于规模的扩增。“自雇公民是民主的基础”这一想法不过是杰斐逊式理想农业社会的遗梦。由于民粹主义和自由市场观念相混杂，剪不断，理还乱，受这种让人困惑的思想驱使，政府实际上已经走偏了道，改而促进小企业的发展。现代的总统无不称颂小企业，但在阿特金森和林德看来，他们都错了。

 

Pointing to the advantages of scale for job creation, productivity, innovation, and virtually all other economic benefits, Atkinson and Lind argue for a “size neutral” policy approach in both the United States and around the world that would encourage growth rather than enshrine an anachronism. If we overthrow the “small is beautiful” ideology, we will be able to recognize large firms as the engines of progress and prosperity that they are.
　　为了发挥创造就业、生产力、创新以及几乎其他所有经济利益的规模优势，阿特金森和林德主张在美国和世界各地采取“规模中立”政策，以鼓励增长，而不是把一个不合时宜的理念奉为圭臬。如果我们推翻了“小即是美”的意识形态，我们就能认识到大公司才是进步和繁荣的引擎。

 

 

Review

Atkinson and Lind's deeply researched book is a needed corrective to current unexamined assumptions about job creation. While acknowledging that the power of giants can bring abuses, they make a compelling case about the virtues of size and scale for innovation and national enrichment. Agree or not, their economic prescriptions are sure to be discussed widely by policy makers of all political persuasions.

(Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Professor, Harvard Business School; author of Move: Putting America's Infrastructure Back in the Lead)

 

Atkinson and Lind present a well-researched and thoughtful correction to the widely held view that it is small business alone that is the engine of economic progress. Their focus on the importance of scale is both historically grounded and eminently relevant to today's connected and information-driven global economy. Big Is Beautiful should be read by business leaders and policy makers around the world.

(Sam Palmisano, Chairman, The Center for Global Enterprise; former Chairman and CEO, IBM)

 

Atkinson and Lind reconstruct the history of economic development to document the role of large enterprises in driving technological innovation and growth. Their nuanced analysis shows how monopoly profits―however transient they may prove to be―are essential to motivate and to fund R&D at the frontier. From Kodak and DuPont through IBM and Xerox to Google and Amazon, the giant firms have been central to this history, outweighing the much hailed but largely sentimentalized celebration of small business.

(Dr. William H. Janeway, Senior Advisor, Warburg Pincus; Affiliated Member of Economics Faculty, University of Cambridge)

 

In an age of mindless partisanship and chronic groupthink, Atkinson and Lind are just the kind of antidote that we need. Whether you agree with their thesis or not―and especially if you disagree―you should read this book. You will not have wasted your time.

(Edward Luce, Washington commentator, Financial Times)

 

About the Author

Robert Atkinson is Founder and President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington, D.C. think tank, and coauthor of Innovation Economics: The Race for Global Advantage.

Michael Lind is a Visiting Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs of the University of Texas and author of Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States.

 

　　

　　Contents

 

Preface

Acknowledgements

 

Part I: History and Present Trends

1    Belittled: How Small Became Beautiful   3

2    Why Business Got Big: A Brief History   19

3    Understanding US Firm Size and Dynamics   37

 

Part II: The Advantages of Size

4    The Bigger the Better: The Economics of Firm Size   63

5    Small Business Job Creation: Myth Versus Reality   81

6    The Myth of the Genius in the Garage: Big Innovation 95

7    Small Business in a Big World 117

 

Part III: Politics and Policy

8    A Republic, If You Can Keep It: Big Business and Democracy   135

9    The Strange Career of Antitrust   155

10   Brandeis Is Back: The Fall and Rise of the Antimonopoly Tradition   177

11   Has Big Business Gotten Too Big?   199

12   Small Business Cronyism: Policies Favoring Small Business 221

13   Living with Giants 241

 

　　前言