When Napoleon Bonaparte famously labelled Britain a ‘nation of shopkeepers’ (L’Angleterre est une nation de boutiquiers) he meant it disparagingly, implying that the British army was made up of ill-trained civilians rather than professional soldiers.
Now, though, the British government would like nothing more than for the UK to be perceived as a nation of small-business owners. Gordon Brown has asked “why a third fewer people in the UK say they are considering starting up a business compared to the US.”
British government would like nothing more than for the UK to be perceived as a nation of small-business owners
Are they less fearful of failure across the Atlantic? Is there less bureaucracy? Is start-up finance more easily obtainable?
The term ‘nation of shopkeepers’ can actually be traced back further, to Adam Smith’s seminal economic text Wealth of Nations, which was published in 1776. It appeared in the following passage:
“To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers. It is, however, a project altogether unfit for a nation of shopkeepers; but extremely fit for a nation whose government is influenced by shopkeepers.”
