All Segments
Segments Timeline
The Risk of Entrepreneurship
Tyler Cowen discusses the risks associated with entrepreneurship, questioning whether the potential rewards justify the effort and uncertainty. He suggests that many individuals may overvalue the autonomy of starting a small business, potentially missing out on more stable employment opportunities. This segment sets the stage for a deeper exploration of the social returns of entrepreneurship.
"the entrepreneur are compared to one of his first employees is he that much better off for taking the extra risk and working that much harder so it seems there's a very large number of people who fool..."
The Risk of Entrepreneurship
Tyler Cowen discusses the risks associated with entrepreneurship, questioning whether the potential rewards justify the effort and uncertainty. He suggests that many individuals may overvalue the autonomy of starting a small business, potentially missing out on more stable employment opportunities. This segment sets the stage for a deeper exploration of the social returns of entrepreneurship.
"the entrepreneur are compared to one of his first employees is he that much better off for taking the extra risk and working that much harder so it seems there's a very large number of people who fool..."
Innovators vs. The Rest
In this segment, Cowen differentiates between entrepreneurs who innovate and those who do not. He argues that while many small business owners may not contribute significantly to society, those who genuinely innovate can generate high social returns. He challenges the commonly cited statistic of 2% social return, emphasizing the uncertainty surrounding such estimates.
"there's really big social returns to whatever those people do even if they could make a go of it but there's another part of the distribution people who are actually innovating or have realistic prosp..."
Innovators vs. Average Entrepreneurs
In this segment, Cowen differentiates between average entrepreneurs and those who genuinely innovate. He argues that while many small businesses may not yield significant social returns, those with realistic prospects for innovation can have a substantial impact. He challenges the commonly cited statistic of 2% social return, using Picasso's influence in art as an example to illustrate the uncertainty in measuring the true impact of innovators.
"another part of the distribution people who are actually innovating or have realistic prospects of doing so or I do think those social returns are very high now that 2% figure that cited a lot I don't..."
The Uncertainty of Impact
Cowen uses the example of Picasso to illustrate the difficulty in measuring the social impact of innovators. He questions the accuracy of estimating the economic contributions of artists and entrepreneurs, highlighting that the true social returns could vary widely, from 1% to 6%. This segment emphasizes the complexities involved in assessing the benefits of entrepreneurship to society.
"look at Picasso right he helped generate cubism with Brock and some other artists how good is our estimate of Picasso's income compared to the spin-offs from Picasso we just don't really know right we..."