Joseph W. Bartlett
The question arises in my mind whether a summary index could be organized to track and elevate it to its proper place and level of influence that portion of the U.S. economy composed of the contributions to GDP and other economic indicators from the activities of emerging growth companies (called “EGCs” or “gazelles”) and their principals, the index helping all hands, including the Fed and Treasury economists, to adjust their view of economic growth in the U.S. to take into account small business creation and operations as a vital element of the economy, an element which often is overlooked when forecasting overall GDP and constituent elements such as job creation. As a business/academic colleague of mine likes to say, you can only measure what can be measured. The question is whether one can measure the impact of the start-up economy once one is shown the ropes, so to speak, and to adjust the snapshots and forecasts of U.S. growth accordingly.
