The Sad State of Haiti

Even before the earthquake, progress in Haiti was not going so great. It has the dubious distinction of being one of only a handful of countries (six total?) to actually see its real per capita income decline between 1960 and 2007 (the only data available from the Penn World Tables). But as Denis O'Brien writes in the latest Innovations (pdf):

Analysis of where Haiti goes from here inevitably turns around the problems, over and over again. Haiti’s past is picked over, its failures held up to the light, each new dawn that didn’t deliver examined under the microscope as to find out what went wrong. And it is important that lessons are learned. But not enough attention is paid to the positives. Let’s for a change not get stuck in the detail and let’s look at what is right with Haiti.

That is the goal of the latest issue, released at the Clinton Global Initiative, 2010. Check it out.

The Valley of Death

It's well known that it can be very difficult to move from scientific invention to market. It's a Miracle has a humorous take on this phenomenon, couched in terms of things scientists say versus what they really mean. For example:

What they say: I think we’ve set the stage now and we’re actively looking opportunities to commercialize our invention.

What they mean: I think we can get a patent out of this, but I have no clue how an actual commercial entity works and what they look for in potential products.

The Global Canon

From the World Policy Journal:

Is there, as World Policy Journal suggests in every issue, a truly global network of creativity—not only in the written word, but in art, drama, music, film, television and beyond? The answers arrived and the results, we believe, will surprise and entertain. For the first time in our quarter century as a publication, we consider poetry, music, painting, internet art, film from Nigeria, plays from Peru—the entire gamut of human creativity—to arrive at the conclusion we suspected from the start: That today, for perhaps the first time in human history, a Global Canon has arrived.

The full contents are here, and the articles are currently free.

Soft Power

From the Department of State:

In a new initiative responding to President Obama’s June 2009 speech in Cairo, the U.S. Department of State is bringing 25 science teachers from as many countries to the United States for an International Visitor Leadership Program called “A New Beginning: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education,” September 27 through October 15.

The teachers will engage in a professional, cultural and educational examination of the building blocks of STEM education at the primary and secondary levels in seven cities across the United States. Participants will visit several schools to explore how to nurture and support hands-on science education, how to demonstrate the relevance of science for children, and how to create a setting in which children actively engage in scientific learning.

This exchange will lay the groundwork for long-term relationships and foster international collaboration in an effort to develop rising leaders in the field of science and technology. After the teachers return home, their students and those of their American counterparts will be invited to take part in global “virtual” science fairs.

"The Agenda for Development Economics"

A special symposium in the Journal of Economic Perspectives. Apparently the agenda does not feature entrepreneurship. A quick word search reveals that "entrepreneur," or one of several derivations is used only once in the text of these articles - the article by Rodrik. Nor are these authors reading much about entrepreneurship - only two citations from these six essays include some variation of the word entrepreneur.

The International Attractiveness of US Universities

Seth Roberts, a psychology professor at Berkeley, bumped into a small group of first year students from Beijing. He asked a few questions and got some interesting answers, such as why they wanted to study in the US (Seth's Blog):

But they preferred an American college to a Chinese one for two main reasons: 1. They can choose whatever major they want. At Chinese universities students are often forced into a major they don’t want if their scores are high enough to get into a prestigious university but not high enough to get into the major they want at that university. 2. They believe that if they graduate from an American university they will have more opportunities. Where did they get the idea of coming to Berkeley? I asked. Online, they said. Their English was really good.

Essays on Entrepreneurship in Honor of William Baumol

In 2006 the American Economic Association arranged three special sessions in Baumol's honor. Since his name just came up in a previous post, I thought this would be worth highlighting again.

William Baumol Special Session on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Growth I: Theoretical Approach

Presiding: ROBERT LITAN, Kauffman Foundation

WILLIAM BAUMOL, New York University—Entrepreneurship and Invention: Toward Their Microeconomic Value Theory

EDWARD LAZEAR, Stanford University—Leadership and Entrepreneurs: Where They Produce the Most Value

EDMUND PHELPS, Columbia University—Further Steps to a Theory of Innovation and Growth—On the Path Begun by Knight, Hayek and Polanyí

CARL SCHRAMM, Kauffman Foundation—Entrepreneurial Capitalism and the End of Bureaucracy: Reforming the Mutual Dialogue of Risk Aversion

William Baumol Special Session on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Growth II: Empirical Approach

Presiding: YING LOWREY, U.S. Small Business Administration

DAVID AUDRETSCH and MAX KEILBACH, Max Planck Institute of Economics—Entrepreneurship Capital -- Determinants and Impact on Regional Economic Performance

YING LOWREY, U.S. Small Business Administration—An Examination of Entrepreneurial Effort

STEVEN KAPLAN, BERK SENSOY, and PER STROMBERG, University of Chicago—What Are Firms? Evolution from Birth to Public Companies

PAUL GOMERS, ANNA KOVNER, JOSHUA LERNER, and DAVID SCHARFSTEIN, Harvard University—Venture Capital Investment Cycles: The Impact of Public Markets

William Baumol Special Session on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Growth III: International Approach

Presiding: LEORA KLAPPER, World Bank

SIMON PARKER, Durham University—New Agendas in the Economics of Entrepreneurship: Optimism,Education, Wealth and Entrepreneurship

SAUL ESTRIN, London School of Economics, and RUTA AIDIS, University College London —Weak Institutions, Weak Ties and Low Levels of Productive Entrepreneurship in Russia: An Exploration

JINGLIAN WU, Development Research Center of Chinese State Council, and SHAOQING HUANG, China Europe International Business School—The Entrepreneurship and Institutions: A Perspective to Interpret China's Economic Growth in Its Transformation

SIMEON DJANKOV, World Bank, YINGYI QIAN, University of California, Berkeley, GÉRARD ROLAND, University of California, Berkeley, and EKATERINA ZHURAVSKAYA, CEFIR—Entrepreneurship in Development: First Results from China and Russia

The Savage Life of a Food Truck Vendor

Good WSJ article about the confrontational life of a food truck entrepreneur. (WSJ):

For the most part, the trucks have battled everyone but each other. First there were turf wars with the push-cart food vendors. Then there were spats with the stores they park in front of. And now, inevitably, some are warring with each other.

"Obviously all of these kinds of things will continue to happen," Mr. Ponorovsky said. "Simply because the amount of trucks out there is growing. Whereas before, whatever confrontations occurred were between old school and new school, now it's going to be new school against new school."

A follow-up blog post includes video.

The Microtheory of Innovation

This new book is the culmination of a brilliant career. Baumol, perhaps more than anyone, deserves the econ nobel. His new book is self-recommending, as they say and it is automatically one of the best nonfiction books of the year. The introduction is online (pdf). A blurb:

Entrepreneurs are widely recognized for the vital contributions they make to economic growth and general welfare, yet until fairly recently entrepreneurship was not considered worthy of serious economic study. Today, progress has been made to integrate entrepreneurship into macroeconomics, but until now the entrepreneur has been almost completely excluded from microeconomics and standard theoretical models of the firm. The Microtheory of Innovative Entrepreneurship provides the framework for introducing entrepreneurship into mainstream microtheory and incorporating the activities of entrepreneurs, inventors, and managers into standard models of the firm.

William Baumol distinguishes between the innovative entrepreneur, who comes up with new ideas and puts them into practice, and the replicative entrepreneur, which can be anyone who launches a new business venture, regardless of whether similar ventures already exist. Baumol puts forward a quasi-formal theoretical analysis of the innovative entrepreneur's influential role in economic life. In doing so, he opens the way to bringing innovative entrepreneurship into the accepted body of mainstream microeconomics, and offers valuable insights that can be used to design more effective policies. The Microtheory of Innovative Entrepreneurship lays the foundation for a new kind of microtheory that reflects the innovative entrepreneur's importance to economic growth and prosperity.

CSR in the Food Service Industry

It seems like its tough enough just making it in the food industry, what with the changing (fickle) taste of consumers, regulation, and a constant stream of new competitors, but a new entrant is promising to pay 1% of profits to local charities. CSR is often labeled by its detractors as a clever marketing gimmick and it's something we normally see in larger, more established industries (to be clear, I'm not saying small businesses don't give back to their communities - simply that what's most visible are the large companies that sponsor sports complexes, and the like).

I'll skip the cynicism for now and just say that this is perhaps another good reason for supporting the new food vendors that we've recently been discussing. So here is a bit about TaKorean, from their blog:

Having worked in outdoor specialty retail for over seven years, I was always inspired by Patagonia’s pledge to donate 1% of all sales to environmental causes around the globe. Patagonia started giving 1% for the planet in 1985, and since then businesses around the world have become involved. It was an easy decision for me to incorporate that same philosophy into DC Street Food, Inc. and TaKorean locally. Washington, DC is where I was born and raised, and along with delivering mouthwatering Korean BBQ tacos throughout the city, I’d like to do my part to better the community that has given so much to me throughout my life.

Each month we will blog about our chosen monthly charity in which we are donating 1% of our sales. Over the course of the year we will be able to give back to several different types of charitable organizations, fulfilling our goal of truly giving back to the local community. We at TaKorean believe that businesses have a responsibility to give back to the communities that give us the opportunity to serve them, and we are more than happy to do our part. Delicious food and a positive impact on our neighborhoods, our youth, our forests, our waterways, and our people is responsible business.

TaKorean is set to hit the streets August 30th.