O Insurgente: Leitura recomendada

The role of entrepreneurs is one of those issues that divides people politically. If you value entrepreneurship, then it is difficult to be a statist. If you are a statist, then it is difficult to value entrepreneurship.

John Kenneth Galbraith represents the quintessential statist. If we were literally stuck on 1968, then Galbraith's The New Industrial State would still be on the best-seller list. In that work, Galbraith correctly pointed out that bureaucratic organizations are averse to risk and uncertainty. However, nearly every other major thesis in his book was wrong. Yet his view of the economy, like much of the conventional wisdom of 1968, has remained embedded in the folk beliefs of the Left.###

For Galbraith, the concept of an entrepreneur was a quaint myth. As he saw it, all of the important economic activity takes place within giant corporations. Their challenge is to manage large capital investments in complex projects, like a nuclear power plant or a new passenger jet. This in turn requires a thick bureaucracy, which Galbraith dubbed the "technostructure."

(...)

The death of the entrepreneur was greatly exaggerated. Over the past two decades, the strength of entrepreneurialism has been unmistakable. The economy has been much more dynamic than Galbraith would have predicted. Many of the industrial giants, which in Galbraith's view were self-perpetuating, have fallen. The steel companies, chemical firms, and aerospace firms of yesteryear have shrunk, with most of them merged out of existence. On the other hand, companies like Microsoft, Intel, and Wal-Mart, which were not part of the economic landscape in 1968, are now more important than the old industrial base.

(...)

The world of Galbraith has been turned upside-down. Large capital projects are not the driving force in the economy. Thick bureaucracy loses to trial-and-error innovation. Prices are competitive. Old firms go out of business. New firms come out of nowhere.

Tech Central StationThe role of entrepreneurs is one of those issues that divides people politically. If you value entrepreneurship, then it is difficult to be a statist. If you are a statist, then it is difficult to value entrepreneurship.

John Kenneth Galbraith represents the quintessential statist. If we were literally stuck on 1968, then Galbraith's The New Industrial State would still be on the best-seller list. In that work, Galbraith correctly pointed out that bureaucratic organizations are averse to risk and uncertainty. However, nearly every other major thesis in his book was wrong. Yet his view of the economy, like much of the conventional wisdom of 1968, has remained embedded in the folk beliefs of the Left.###

For Galbraith, the concept of an entrepreneur was a quaint myth. As he saw it, all of the important economic activity takes place within giant corporations. Their challenge is to manage large capital investments in complex projects, like a nuclear power plant or a new passenger jet. This in turn requires a thick bureaucracy, which Galbraith dubbed the "technostructure."

(...)

The death of the entrepreneur was greatly exaggerated. Over the past two decades, the strength of entrepreneurialism has been unmistakable. The economy has been much more dynamic than Galbraith would have predicted. Many of the industrial giants, which in Galbraith's view were self-perpetuating, have fallen. The steel companies, chemical firms, and aerospace firms of yesteryear have shrunk, with most of them merged out of existence. On the other hand, companies like Microsoft, Intel, and Wal-Mart, which were not part of the economic landscape in 1968, are now more important than the old industrial base.

(...)

The world of Galbraith has been turned upside-down. Large capital projects are not the driving force in the economy. Thick bureaucracy loses to trial-and-error innovation. Prices are competitive. Old firms go out of business. New firms come out of nowhere.

O Insurgente

10.2.06

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