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Big Is Beautiful: Debunking the Myth of Small Business (The MIT Press) Hardcover – March 30, 2018

by Robert D. Atkinson (Author), Michael Lind (Author)

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Why small business is not the basis of American prosperity, not the foundation of American democracy, and not the champion of job creation.

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.

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.

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Editorial Reviews

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 (Endorsement)

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 (Endorsement)

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 (Endorsement)

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 (Endorsement)

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.

Series: The MIT Press
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press (March 30, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 026203770X
ISBN-13: 978-0262037709
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 10 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #357,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #477 in Books > Business & Money > Economics > Macroeconomics
- #922 in Books > Business & Money > Biography & History > Company Profiles
- #4446 in Books > Business & Money > Small Business & Entrepreneurship

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Reihan M. Salam

I tore through my copy of Big is Beautiful over the course of a day

April 5, 2018

Verified Purchase

I tore through my copy of Big is Beautiful over the course of a day. It is intelligent, lucid, and very convincing. While it has become a commonplace to celebrate the virtues of small business, these paeans neglect the fact that successful business enterprises that achieve meaningful scale have long been the chief driver of productivity gains, not mom and pops. Corporate giants develop innovative business models, create entirely new product categories, and raise labor standards in entire sectors. Atkinson and Lind aren't cheerleaders: they acknowledge that rent-seeking businesses come in all sizes, and that there are pathologies of bigness. Yet they do an excellent job of distilling how modern market economies achieve durable productivity growth, and it's not by stunting the growth of new firms. I particularly enjoyed the concluding section, which offers a brilliant typology for understanding contemporary political economy debates: beyond left and right, these debates involve global libertarians, global neoliberals, progressive localists, national protectionists, and national developmentalists. This part of the book is worth the price of admission.

6 people found this helpful7 people found this helpful

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Benito Cellini

Marvelous debunking of the populiist myth that "small is beautiful" when it comes to business while succesful big firms are evil

June 13, 2018

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A very important book, because politicians on both sides pander to the popular notion that small business is inherently wonderful while big business is evil. They say things like "small businesses accounts for X% of all new jobs," but don't tell you they also account for most jobs lost. And new jobs pay less than old jobs - which most of us have with BIG companies An eye-opening exercise is debunking that is long overdue.

One person found this helpful2 people found this helpful

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K Tong

Should be taught in schools.

July 25, 2018

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Highly reccomend this book after reading land of promise by michael lind. Its solid, nonpartisan, historical, and above all hopeful in this dark nd uninformed age.

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Obeazi

Macro-Micro Prereq

July 28, 2018

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I like that this was a easy to understand book about policies and their historical and current effect on big and small businesses alike. I wish I had of read this before taking macro or micro econ.

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Jason Sibert

The most important book of the year!

April 22, 2018

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I highly recommend "Big is Beautiful" by Robert Atkinson and Michael Lind. This is a book that goes against the grain and that's the reason the authors should be commended. Politics is full with hatred of the big - big government, big business, big green, big labor and big technology. I guess many won't like the book because it's contrary to what they hear all of the time. The authors tell us why we should value the big in terms of high wages, the environment, worker safety and other points. The book features cold and hard facts and that's what I like so much about it. It also takes on the arguments often spouted by advocates of small business romanticism.

Will this book help us snap out of the small is beautiful, Jeffersonian ideas that have influenced our political system since the 1970's? I hope that it does. However, we'll have to wait and see.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

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Caleb Orr

Seeing through new eyes after reading this book.

April 6, 2018

An intoxicating read. Atkinson and Lind are prolific analysts of American economic history. Their ability to cut to the core arguments behind the economics of firms big and small, and trace them through history, makes for a very compelling book. You will be able to imagine new political coalitions in ways you hadn't before, and strangely enough it will feel like these coalitions would be more true to American history than the stale, dried-out ideological treads of today. Nostalgia is not quite the right word to describe it, but this book left me with a better sense for how history might continue to rhyme in American life. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the realignment trends shaping American politics and the economy.

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POL

The Business of America is Big

July 26, 2018

The arrival of Big is Beautiful by Robert Atkinson & Michael Lind should be appreciated by all readers who enjoy thinking beyond old and outdated, yet still popular conventions. This new release from the MIT press serves as a long overdue rejoinder to the misplaced yet ever-present romanticism that in business Small is Beautiful. The obverse implied, that Big is Ugly, has held sway for well over a century and the “Big” desperately have needed their day in court for quite some time, as well as an able defender(or defenders) to make their case adequately before the bench of public opinion. Atkinson and Lind more or less do their clients proud.

This interesting micro aesthetic has attached itself to popular economics through the widely successful book by E.F. Schumacher. Atkinson and Lind take apart the multitudinous assertions that claim small businesses create more jobs than big: they don’t. They assault the notion that small business owners are “the little guy” who frequently live hand to mouth: they aren’t. They demolish the conceit that small business responds better to the local social needs of community: typically they can’t afford to, or just won’t. Big businesses employ more people, pay better wages on the whole, produce more goods of high quality with more efficiency than perhaps even possible in a small business. A tough pill to swallow and clear, this I understand. Part of the popularity of this myth emerges around the ubiquitous dream held by many of finally quitting their “day job” with the corporation to open and own that “small” bookstore, or coffee shop, or hardware store, or whatever. As owner of any of these fine enterprises, and since it’s a dream anyway, you’d undoubtedly take the time to get to know all your customers, treat them fairly and always with equal care, make their customer experience as pleasant and fulfilling as you or they could possibly hope for. You’d be like young Haruki Murakami, though perhaps without the fledgling novel brewing inside you. But then, suddenly, the snake appears in Eden. Barnes & Noble opens up across the street. Or a Starbucks. Or a Home Depot. Flow start to diminish. Your business drops off. Your profits begin to dwindle. You begin to contemplate rather bitterly a new career in real estate selling warehouse structures to Barnes & Noble; or Home Depot. Unfortunately, for those dreamers, businesses of growing scale will almost always sell their products cheaper than smaller businesses; they will also often have more choice and stock. Success spurs growth as a necessity, while stagnation requires subsidies, often both private as well as public, which can encourage further stagnation. Small businesses are frequently a premium boutique business that is kept going at the expense of the community it serves. Hence the number of vintners scattered about the Hamptons.

Atkinson and Lind use the bulk of this book to plead for “size neutrality” in applying government regulations and subsidies. They argue that far from government catering to the Big, its the Small that has continuously siphoned off the lion’s share of taxpayer dollars for years without much to show in return. They argue that government assistance should be predicated upon a business’ potential for growth rather just a promise of staticity. R&D offers promise of future dividends and national enrichment; a pizza shop offers the future its slices. Too often the latter has been categorized as an entrepreneur and unjustly reaped public monies through this confusion of terms. The authors may come off as bordering on the ruthless sometimes. To appeals that neutrality might mean small businesses going under or some employees being let go, their quick response is that displaced workers can find employment with bigger companies that will pay better, provide better benefits, and undoubtedly offer more opportunity for advancement. Neither mom nor pop is likely to step down and turn the reigns of their pizza shop over to you no matter how hard you work.

Yes, this is a work of economic partisanship. This book is also well-researched, splendidly organized, and cogently presented. The authors show numbers and provide links for a reader to explore beyond the covers. This book will also pop many balloons, so many will undoubtedly cry foul before getting to the end. Still, I’m glad this argument for the importance of large businesses in the American economy and throughout its innumerable communities was finally made. And made so well.

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