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Towards an Untrepreneurial Economy? Rise of the Veblenian Entrepreneur (2019)

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Re: Towards an Untrepreneurial Economy? Rise of the Veblenian Entrepreneur (2019)

#41

Post by scottishcow »

So universities are conspicuous consumption, internships are conspicuous consumption, entrepreneurship is conspicuous consumption.

Perhaps the simple fact is that most people are motivated by the need for social validation, and only a tiny tiny fraction of the population is driven instead by things like intellectual curiosity, desire to help others / solve societal problems, etc. So any class of activity that becomes open to a sufficient number of entrants will eventually turn into a form of conspicuous consumption.

Now scientific research is conspicuous consumption (MIT Media Lab?), book authorship is conspicuous consumption, and political candidacy is conspicuous consumption. Are there any activities left that doesn’t function as a form of conspicuous consumption?

Re: Towards an Untrepreneurial Economy? Rise of the Veblenian Entrepreneur (2019)

#42

Post by z3t4 »

scottishcow wrote: post #41

So universities are conspicuous consumption, internships are conspicuous consumption, entrepreneurship is conspicuous consumption. Perhaps the simple fact is that most people are motivated by the need for social validation, and only a tiny tiny fraction of the population is driven instead by things like intellectual curiosity, desire to help others / solve societal problems, etc. So any class of activity that becomes…

Medics, fictions, anything that is not considered cool

Re: Towards an Untrepreneurial Economy? Rise of the Veblenian Entrepreneur (2019)

#43

Post by pdonis »

scottishcow wrote: post #41

So universities are conspicuous consumption, internships are conspicuous consumption, entrepreneurship is conspicuous consumption. Perhaps the simple fact is that most people are motivated by the need for social validation, and only a tiny tiny fraction of the population is driven instead by things like intellectual curiosity, desire to help others / solve societal problems, etc. So any class of activity that becomes…

> universities are conspicuous consumption, internships are conspicuous consumption, entrepreneurship is conspicuous consumption

> scientific research is conspicuous consumption (MIT Media Lab?), book authorship is conspicuous consumption, and political candidacy is conspicuous consumption

Is the paper making all these claims? I don't see them.

Re: Towards an Untrepreneurial Economy? Rise of the Veblenian Entrepreneur (2019)

#44

Post by exolymph »

pdonis wrote: post #43
scottishcow wrote: post #41

So universities are conspicuous consumption, internships are conspicuous consumption, entrepreneurship is conspicuous consumption. Perhaps the simple fact is that most people are motivated by the need for social validation, and only a tiny tiny fraction of the population is driven instead by things like intellectual curiosity, desire to help others / solve societal problems, etc. So any class of activity that becomes…

> universities are conspicuous consumption, internships are conspicuous consumption, entrepreneurship is conspicuous consumption > scientific research is conspicuous consumption (MIT Media Lab?), book authorship is conspicuous consumption, and political candidacy is conspicuous consumption Is the paper making all these claims? I don't see them.

Sometimes people write comments relaying their own opinions.

Re: Towards an Untrepreneurial Economy? Rise of the Veblenian Entrepreneur (2019)

#45

Post by pdonis »

NicolasGorden wrote: post #33

I read the actual research and it seems to me the authors are confounding a lot of things. I believe people with a decent background in business and economics should see this. A few things that jumped out at me: 1- The rise of specialized services that lower the entrance bars for many industries. 2- The rise of the wantrepreneur. 3- "Inefficient market offerings" that reduce innovation. The answer to these: 1- Yes by…

> it's hard to blame mailchimp for the rise of the wantrepreneur, which seems to be a logical conclusion if we follow the premise of the study

Not mailchimp, because mailchimp, as a business, is not focused on providing services to entrepreneurs. It's much more general. The paper is talking about businesses that focus specifically on providing services to entrepreneurs, what it calls the "Entrepreneurial Industry".

I do think the paper suffers from a lack of specific examples; I would have liked to see some actual examples of companies that the paper considers to be in the Entrepreneurial Industry.

Re: Towards an Untrepreneurial Economy? Rise of the Veblenian Entrepreneur (2019)

#46

Post by scottishcow »

pdonis wrote: post #43
scottishcow wrote: post #41

So universities are conspicuous consumption, internships are conspicuous consumption, entrepreneurship is conspicuous consumption. Perhaps the simple fact is that most people are motivated by the need for social validation, and only a tiny tiny fraction of the population is driven instead by things like intellectual curiosity, desire to help others / solve societal problems, etc. So any class of activity that becomes…

> universities are conspicuous consumption, internships are conspicuous consumption, entrepreneurship is conspicuous consumption > scientific research is conspicuous consumption (MIT Media Lab?), book authorship is conspicuous consumption, and political candidacy is conspicuous consumption Is the paper making all these claims? I don't see them.

Never said it does, was it confusing? Maybe my English needs more work.

Re: Towards an Untrepreneurial Economy? Rise of the Veblenian Entrepreneur (2019)

#47

Post by pdonis »

scottishcow wrote: post #46
pdonis wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> universities are conspicuous consumption, internships are conspicuous consumption, entrepreneurship is conspicuous consumption > scientific research is conspicuous consumption (MIT Media Lab?), book authorship is conspicuous consumption, and political candidacy is conspicuous consumption Is the paper making all these claims? I don't see them.

Never said it does, was it confusing? Maybe my English needs more work.

> Never said it does

Then I don't understand who this question is supposed to be directed at:

> Are there any activities left that doesn’t function as a form of conspicuous consumption?

My answer would be that none of the activities you list (with the possible exception of the kind of wannabe entrepreneurship the paper is talking about) are conspicuous consumption. But it seemed like you were directing the question at the authors of the paper, not me.

Re: Towards an Untrepreneurial Economy? Rise of the Veblenian Entrepreneur (2019)

#48

Post by wmf »

pdonis wrote: post #45
NicolasGorden wrote: post #33

I read the actual research and it seems to me the authors are confounding a lot of things. I believe people with a decent background in business and economics should see this. A few things that jumped out at me: 1- The rise of specialized services that lower the entrance bars for many industries. 2- The rise of the wantrepreneur. 3- "Inefficient market offerings" that reduce innovation. The answer to these: 1- Yes by…

> it's hard to blame mailchimp for the rise of the wantrepreneur, which seems to be a logical conclusion if we follow the premise of the study Not mailchimp, because mailchimp, as a business, is not focused on providing services to entrepreneurs. It's much more general. The paper is talking about businesses that focus specifically on providing services to entrepreneurs, what it calls the "Entrepreneurial Industry". I…

There does seem to be a glut of net-negative "entrepreneurship" resources like low-quality bootcamps, pay-to-pitch events, useless networking events, endless motivational/advice content, etc. Many of these are specifically targeted at convincing people to "live the dream", although I suspect they're more misguided than intentionally scammy.

Re: Towards an Untrepreneurial Economy? Rise of the Veblenian Entrepreneur (2019)

#49

Post by dnautics »

pdonis wrote: post #47
scottishcow wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never said it does, was it confusing? Maybe my English needs more work.

> Never said it does Then I don't understand who this question is supposed to be directed at: > Are there any activities left that doesn’t function as a form of conspicuous consumption? My answer would be that none of the activities you list (with the possible exception of the kind of wannabe entrepreneurship the paper is talking about) are conspicuous consumption. But it seemed like you were directing the question a…

I think it was a rhetorical question directed at me. I got a chuckle out of it, it made me go 'hum...', and brightened my day about one micromort's worth.

Re: Towards an Untrepreneurial Economy? Rise of the Veblenian Entrepreneur (2019)

#50

Post by dnautics »

Animats wrote: post #40
NicolasGorden wrote: post #33

I read the actual research and it seems to me the authors are confounding a lot of things. I believe people with a decent background in business and economics should see this. A few things that jumped out at me: 1- The rise of specialized services that lower the entrance bars for many industries. 2- The rise of the wantrepreneur. 3- "Inefficient market offerings" that reduce innovation. The answer to these: 1- Yes by…

I've read Veblen's "The Theory of the Leisure Class", and I don't see that it applies here. The author writes: "This rapidly growing industry has transformed the nature of entrepreneurship and encouraged a particular form of low-quality entrepreneurship. It has done so by leveraging the Ideology of Entrepreneurialism to mass-produce and mass-market products that make possible what we term Veblenian Entrepreneurship."…

Is it possible that veblenian means in the context of a veblen good?
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