#129. Troublemakers or Entrepreneurs?
Posted on | The Agurban
A study by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor showed that the United States was unusual among developed countries is having a higher business start- up rate among its 18- to 24-year-olds than its 35- to 44-year-olds. Tyler Cowen, a contributing writer to the New York Times, recently posed the question, “Why has America produced so many successful young entrepreneurs?” Some of his findings are listed below.
American youths are so successful at entrepreneurship in part because so many older and wealthier people are willing to help them. The broader American success at philanthropy lays the groundwork for American entrepreneurship. Americans tend to have a looser network of friends and family, but Americans are more willing to help relative strangers, and this often helps business.
The fact that American schooling is less disciplined than that in other countries gives young creators the time and the energy to accomplish something outside their formal education. American children are more likely to be working on their own projects, rather than being directed by parents and elders.
It is a common American dream to want to start one’s own business, This can be a driving force behind some young entrepreneurs. One American teen commented, “If starting a business wasn’t ‘cool’, I doubt very many teens would partake.”
Finally, the new ideas and business principles behind the Web have carved out the ideal territory for the young. Completely new, outside-the-box ideas typically come from the young. The Web makes the human face of a business less important and allows the young to put forward their talents while disguising their inexperience.
It is well known that American companies have been the most successful at turning information technology into productivity advantages. In part, this is because of American success in mobilizing young talent. On a national level, these successes are rooted in the commercial, competitive, philanthropic, nonegalitarian and open nature of American society. America’s economic head start probably won’t go away anytime soon.