Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Carl Schramm on business journalism

The president of the Kauffman Foundation, the Kansas City-based "think-farm" that promotes and funds research into entrepreneurism, stopped by the University of Missouri campus Tuesday to talk to econ students and faculty.

Carl Schramm has a new book, "The Entrepreneurial Imperative: How America's Economic Miracle Will Reshape the World" (Collins, 2006). It's a sweeping look at a post-Keynesian world, and how entrepreneurism drives a new economic model. Schramm has strong views on immigrations -- for the most part, it should be unfettered. But he goes a step further and advocates that any non-citizen who earns a PhD in a U.S. university should immediately be offered citizenship. He believes that U.S.-educated foreign nationals, especially if they experience entrepreneurism while on campus, will spread this form of individual freedom when they return to their home country.

Later, in a one-on-one, we talked about the role of business journalists. Schramm feels that journalists don't really understand statistics, or economic fundamentals. He's often chagrined (my word) by misleading and mischaracterized statistics in the press. He also believes that reporting on underlying economic issues is shallow.

My recommendation? At 187 pages, Schramm's book is worth putting on the bedstand for a quick read, especially if you are a fan of Tom Friedman's, "The World is Flat."

--Marty Steffens

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Is it not ironic that

a) Kauffman benefits from the TARP bailouts as it is a foundation with $2.5 billion in assets
b) Kauffman does not fund entrepreneurs nor entrepreneurship directly, but only those who talk/write about it

Imagine if Mr. Kauffman had had to compete with the Kauffman Foundation's sapping of resources had he had to launch his companies in the shadows of the Kauffman Foundation, where entrepreneurs are not supported.

Yes--Kauffman the entrepreneur would have received no support from Kauffman.

The article states, "And so, for instance, Mr. Schramm brags that Kauffman has "dragged economists into considering the importance of firm formation to the overall growth of the economy." The foundation has commissioned some 6,000 papers on this and related topics in the past several years." --http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123879888700588243.html

Imagine if Schramm would have invested in 6,000 patents or 6,000 companies or 6,000 entrepreneurs--then perhaps America's reserve currency status would not be in danger.

But 6,000 papers penned by professors in the ivory tower as the economy crumbles... the great thing about it is that Schramm can take credit for any bounce, as surely it was not the actions of rugged entrepreneurs, but the 6,000 papers that few, if anyone, will ever read.