Office of Advocacy Chief Economist Chad Moutray was one of the speakers over the weekend at the annual United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) conference in Nashville, Tennessee. His remarks focused on the role that economic research plays in framing policy issues relevant to small businesses.
In addition to highlighting the linkages between entrepreneurship and job creation, Moutray’s speech discussed some of the Office of Advocacy research studies of note on many of the topics of relevance to small business owners, policymakers, and academics. In particular, he noted the following long-term economic challenges:
• Strengthening the overall economy
• Ensuring a small business voice in the tax and regulatory process
• Addressing the cost and availability of health insurance
• Attracting and retaining a quality workforce
• Meeting the challenges of global competition
Moutray also noted five economic opportunities looking forward:
• Increasing investments in technology and innovation
• Pursuing new markets overseas
• Promoting business ownership as a means of economic growth and personal empowerment
• Seeing the economic development potential of rural and inner city communities
• Renewing our emphasis on education, employment, and training
Advocacy’s economic research is used by many of the individuals attending the USASBE conference, especially academics who teach entrepreneurship to their university students. Since small businesses represent 99.7 of all employer firms in the U.S., Advocacy views fostering entrepreneurship as key to our economic well-being.
USASBE has always had a heavy emphasis on entrepreneurship education. Other presentations focused on family businesses, minority and women entrepreneurship, international trade, and social entrepreneurship. The public policy discussion is relatively new, and its creation is a recognition of the unique role that small businesses play in our economy and of the need for policymakers to address the issues of relevance to entrepreneurs.