Discussions about the role of small enterprise in economic
development tend to remain inconclusive partly because of the difficulty
of assessing the relative importance of economic and non-economic
objectives and partly because of the dearth of factual information on
which to base an economic calculus. It is probably true, moreover, that,
because of a lack of general agreement as to the economic case for or
against small enterprise, non-economic considerations, including some
merely romantic attitudes toward smallness and bigness, tend to exert an
undue influence on public policies. There may, of course, be no
clear-cut economic case. And noneconomic considerations should and will
inevitably weigh significantly in policy decisions. If, however, some of
the economic questions could be settled by more and better knowledge,
these decisions could more accurately reflect the opportunity costs of
pursuing non-economic objectives.
