Michael S. Barr
The Roy F. and Jean Humphrey Proffitt Professor of Law, and Professor of Public Policy, University of Michigan; Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
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The obstacles faced by small business owners—lack of access to capital, still-developing business skills, and insufficient business networks for peer support, investment, and business opportunities—can be particularly acute for women and minority entrepreneurs.
To promote successful entrepreneurship among a more-diverse pool of business owners, the State Small Business Credit Initiative should be expanded and the New Markets Tax Credit should be enlarged and made permanent, thereby making entrepreneurial paths more attractive and accessible. Federal support for local business networks and local skills-acquisition initiatives that target underserved communities could usefully complement these reforms.
The United States has an enviable entrepreneurial culture and a track record of building new companies. Yet new and small business owners often face particular challenges, including lack of access to capital, insufficient business networks for peer support, investment, and business opportunities, and the absence of the full range of essential skills necessary to lead a business to survive and grow. Women and minority entrepreneurs often face even greater obstacles. While business formation is, of course, primarily a matter for the private sector, public policy can and should encourage increased rates of entrepreneurship, and the capital, networks, and skills essential for success, especially among women and minorities. In particular, this discussion paper calls for an expanded State Small Business Credit Initiative and an enlarged and permanent New Markets Tax Credit to encourage private sector investment in new and small businesses. These capital initiatives should be complemented with new federal support for local business networks, and for local skills acquisition initiatives, to make it more likely that small businesses will form, survive, and grow. For the United States to continue to grow, to innovate, and even more importantly to generate jobs, we need to expand our rate of business formation and improve the prospects for survival and growth of young and small businesses. Increasing the rate of minority and female entrepreneurship may help to reduce the race and gender wealth gaps, to reduce income and wealth inequality, and to increase social mobility. With the United States becoming more heterogeneous, increasing business formation by minority and female entrepreneurs is critical to improving the rate of entrepreneurship overall. Thus, if we are to grow as a country, create jobs, and make progress on correcting income and wealth inequality, we need to help minority and female entrepreneurs succeed.
