By Schumpeter
Start-ups have always been at the heart of America’s economic success. Companies that are five years old or younger account for all of the country’s net job creation. They also account for the bulk of innovation. Established firms are usually in the business of preserving the old world; start-ups are under more pressure to come up with new ideas, and if they do so they usually create lots of new jobs. But these growth machines have broken down. America is not producing as many start-ups as it did a decade ago and those that have been created are providing fewer jobs—less than five each, compared with an historical average of about seven. Start-ups created 2.7m new jobs in the 2012 financial year compared with 4.7m in 1999.
