In recent years, it has become de rigueur to assert that small business is good and big business is bad – or if not bad per se, at least to be treated with suspicion by default. While this populist appeal grounded in a “small is beautiful” ideology is seductive and politically powerful, it’s also misguided and dangerous – and based on myth rather than facts.
If Canada wants a growing, competitive economy with higher wages and productivity, policy-makers will need to recognize the critical role that large businesses play, and implement policies that recognize and support that role. This is the subject of an upcoming MLI report by Robert D. Atkinson, who lays out the benefits of larger businesses – that they generally pay higher wages, are more productive, employ more people, and are more innovative – and provides policy prescriptions that would benefit Canadian employees and consumers alike while boosting Canada’s economy as a whole.
This MLI webinar featured a lively discussion between the report’s author, Robert D. Atkinson, and MLI’s Director of Domestic Policy Aaron Wudrick.
