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The costs and consequences of ‘small business fetishism’

Saul Eslake

Agenda: a journal of policy analysis and reform2021https://doi.org/10.22459/ag.28.01.2021.05article
ABDC B
Weight
0.26

Abstract

It is widely asserted-and believed-across the Australian political spectrum that small business is the 'engine room' or 'backbone' of the economy. This belief is, however, without any evidentiary foundation whatsoever. In aggregate, Australian small businesses have not created a single job since before the Global Financial Crisis. Small businesses have, on average, been consistently less innovative than medium-sized and large businesses. Small businesses pay lower wages, on average, than medium-sized and large businesses, and they have significantly lower labour productivity. It would be a mistake to perpetuate the preferential treatment of small businesses simply because they are small, and for no other reason, once the pandemic is over. If preferential tax treatment and other forms of assistance are to be afforded to any businesses, it should be to new businesses, rather than small ones.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.22459/ag.28.01.2021.05

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@article{saul2021,
  title        = {{The costs and consequences of ‘small business fetishism’}},
  author       = {Saul Eslake},
  journal      = {Agenda: a journal of policy analysis and reform},
  year         = {2021},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.22459/ag.28.01.2021.05},
}

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The costs and consequences of ‘small business fetishism’

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Evidence weight

0.26

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.00 × 0.4 = 0.00
M · momentum0.20 × 0.15 = 0.03
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.