
The surprising decline of entrepreneurship and innovation in the West - jasonsamoa
https://phys.org/news/2019-10-decline-entrepreneurship-west.html
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sinuhe69
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.

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ReptileMan
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.

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subject118
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)

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iagovar
Could this graph be relevant here?
[https://m.imgur.com/a/UIck2qD](https://m.imgur.com/a/UIck2qD)

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jasonsamoa
A lack of entrepreneurship is reducing current generational wealth perhaps?

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iagovar
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.

