The Stand Up event is still getting a good deal of press, at least on the Stand Up and related websites, but its time to move on. First though, I am going to take some time to reassess this effort and what I have learned.
I have learned a great deal since starting on this pathway, more than I can actually absorb, so some resources have been put aside until I could get back to them. One of the positive aspects of the World Wide Web is that any one particular resource will most likely contain a plethora of additional resources. An original source for this effort was the work of Jeffery Sachs' UN Millennium Project. Sachs on Common Wealth was found on Chandan Sapkota's blog which in turn deals with economic growth, development, and public policy in the developing countries, so it fits nicely with the focus of this blog. Chandan's blog provides a number of Interesting links and some insightful ideas with his idea of Intervention Diagnostic. I still prefer an analytical approach to an emotional based one.
I am still optimistic. I still believe in basic liberal democratic free enterprise as laying out the path most likely able to take us to a new and better millennium. Alex Tabarrok of my favorite economics blog Marginal Revolution, doesn't mention the Millennium Development Goals in this TED video, but does cite the growth of China and India and touches on MDG2 global education and MDG8 trade.
I maintain my basic belief in an entrepreneurial approach though with a strong social aspect, realizing this is an oxymoron to many on both ends of the political spectrum. Still there are those who, even if they criticize current policy and practices, remain capitalists, perhaps not unfettered uber-capitalists, but at least they still believe in free enterprise, despite the latest economic crisis.The challenge is that if we still believe in free enterprise after the worst recession since the Great Depression, then we need to find better ways of using the tools of capitalism. This TEDTalk video features Geoff Mulgan: Post-crash, investing in a better world.
Frogdesign champion Tim Leberecht provides additional pathways for the Future of Capitalism through Meaning-Driven Business.
One example of this is Umar Haique who argues that we need to re-boot capitalism. And like Reinhard Marx, he focuses on a re-definition of “capital.” His concept of “constructive capitalism,” however, is more radical than the social market economy solution Marx proposes.
Haique demands that 21st century economics fundamentally rethink “what capital isn’t – and what capital really is.” “The value equation of industrial-era capitalism was toxically imbalanced. Why is industrial era business so destructive – why does it slash and burn rainforests, endanger entire species, vaporize culture and community, marginalize the poor and disadvantaged, and erode our health and vitality? Because none of those have value in an industrial economy: none are capitalized. So the bean counters of the world are free to plunder and ruin them – because, economically, they actually don’t exist.
Tim Leberecht work provides inspiration for some, like Nathaniel Whittemore, to actually see a Rebirth of Capitalism? Social Entrepreneurship blogger Nathaniel Whittemore notes that, "In the social entrepreneurship field there's a huge push to proclaim a self-fulfilling prophecy of a capitalist rebirth that puts social and environmental value back into the heart of the equation."
Where social entrepreneurship is heading is discussed by Heidi Neck, Candida Brush and Elaine Allen in the The Landscape Of Social Entrepreneurship(pdf.)
Entrepreneurship has often been cited as the engine of economic growth (Reynolds, Storey, & Westhead, 1994). Today, economic growth is still necessary, but no longer sufficient. Social entrepreneurship is the engine of positive, systemic change that will alter what we do, how we do it, and why it matters.
