MANY AMERICANS long(渴望) to be their own boss(自己的老板). Their yearning is as old as the Republic itself: Thomas Jefferson thought the ideal citizen was a yeoman farmer, whose economic independence allowed him to participate in civic life.(他们的渴望与美国本身一样古老：托马斯·杰斐逊认为理想的公民是自耕农，其经济独立使他能够参与公民生活。) For decades, 60% of Americans have said they want to be self-employed(自雇的). Yet in recent years fewer than 10% have been.
许多美国人都渴望成为自己的老板。这种渴望与美国的历史一样悠久：托马斯·杰斐逊认为理想的公民是自耕农，经济独立使他们能够参与公民生活。几十年来，60%的美国人表示他们想成为个体经营者。然而近年来，只有不到10%的人实现了这一目标。
That is now changing. As we report, America is in the midst of(在……之中) a small-business boom. It began during the covid-19 pandemic and has since picked up steam(加速发展), fuelled by artificial intelligence, low hiring and the growing ease of starting small online shops on platforms such as Etsy, Shopify and TikTok Shop. In June the Census Bureau recorded more than 531,000 new business applications, a rise of 81% compared with the average month in 2019. Such factors have buoyed(提振) self-employment in Britain and France, according to Stripe, a payments firm. But it is America where the trend is most pronounced(显著的). It is a welcome(可喜的) one.
这种情况正在改变。据我们报道，美国正处于小企业繁荣期。这一趋势始于新冠疫情期间，此后在人工智能、低招聘率以及Etsy、Shopify和TikTok Shop等平台上开设小型在线商店日益便利的推动下，势头不断增强。今年6月，人口普查局记录了超过53.1万份新企业申请，比2019年的月均水平增长了81%。支付公司Stripe表示，这些因素也提振了英国和法国的自雇就业。但这一趋势在美国最为显著。这是一个可喜的变化。
Small businesses are popular with politicians, but economists can turn up their noses(嗤之以鼻). Many fail. Those that survive often suffer from low productivity: small American firms are only 70% as productive as big ones. In recent years much innovation has come from large “superstar(超级明星)” firms. Small companies often lack the digital tools and administrative efficiency that come with scale(规模).
小企业受到政客们的欢迎，但经济学家们却可能嗤之以鼻。许多小企业会失败。幸存下来的那些往往生产率低下：美国小企业的生产率只有大企业的70%。近年来，许多创新来自大型“超级明星”企业。小公司往往缺乏规模带来的数字工具和行政效率。
What would Jefferson do?
杰斐逊会怎么做？