Economics

One major overhead entrepreneurial business often grapple with is the exorbitant rent in cities. Moving to a smaller town offers a significant reduction in these costs and promotes regional economic balance.

Founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation, cloud computing company

If I was selling research, why not genuinely sell something in the business world? I realized that entrepreneurship might be the key to growth and economic solutions.

Founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation, cloud computing company

$1.8 trillion a year is spent subsidizing industries that harm us, predominantly fossil fuels. Redirecting a significant portion of these funds could dramatically accelerate our transition.

First Female President of Ireland & UN Human Rights Commissioner

A significant hurdle is the underestimation of our collective power. The fossil fuel sector and its substantial influence through lobbying and misinformation, spending $4 billion annually to challenge scientific consensus.

First Female President of Ireland & UN Human Rights Commissioner

Corporations find themselves in a bind, torn between clinging to the notion of solely enhancing shareholder value and making vague promises to cater to all stakeholders, which can be perilously misleading.

Having a fiduciary duty implies an undivided loyalty to corporate interests, arguing that it's impossible to hold a fiduciary duty towards stakeholders since they are considered natural adversaries. Thus, according to the law, stakeholders are viewed as opponents.

What we commonly refer to as business ethics bears little resemblance to ethics in its conventional sense. Instead, it functions more as a defensive strategy designed to shield corporate value from the scrutiny of regulations and public perception.

However, the landscape is shifting with the advent of digital transactions. The digitisation of money movement, transitioning from cash to digital, allows for traceability. This traceability generates data, which can be analysed to inform decisions.

However, imagine living in a place where such financial avenues are virtually non-existent. Where hard work and ambition offer no promise of progress or escape from economic stagnation. This reality is stark for many.

The reality is, not every business model is designed for scalability. Some businesses don't necessarily need to scale to be successful. The key lies in intellectual property. Once you've developed a piece of IP, the cost of distributing it to one person versus a million is remarkably similar.

British Businessman, Dragons' Den Investor & Retail Entrepreneur

There's this sense that our institutions have failed us. The very rich generally pay lower effective tax rates than middle-class and lower-income individuals. There's a sense that the system is broken, the rules of the game are rigged.

There are three devils that inhibit economic growth. The first is that the government takes up too much of the economy. The second is that taxes take too much out of the economy. And the third is that there's too much regulation.

Around the world you've got somewhere between 1 and 2 billion people who are living in abject poverty. Economic growth offers the opportunity to reduce that 1 or 2 billion to 100,000–200,000 in the next phase.

However much we would like to pursue a 'be kind' policy, we have to recognize that there are others in the world who are going to eat our lunch if we don't do our best.

We've been bamboozled into believing that love is found on the outside. Deep down, we're really trying to achieve peace, happiness, and love. It's not about the wealth itself; it's about what we perceive the wealth will bring into our lives.

Too little credit and the economy can't grow, too much credit and the economy becomes unstable and we have the great financial crisis. So we need to find that proper Goldilocks point in the middle.

Complexity scientist & founding director of Santa Fe Institute's Complexity Economics program