Mission-driven capitalism for small business owners in the U.S.

The “use value” of assets in the classical paradigm allowed distinction between those held by capitalists and those held by rentiers. Most small businesses in the United States operate more akin to the model of rentiers than capitalists. Ironically, long run equilibrium in the Marshallian competitive system between total revenue and total cost describes both the small business and the nonprofit sectors. Nonprofits, of course, are mission driven, owned publically rather than privately, and governed by appointed boards of directors. It is argued that analogous to nonprofits, privately owned small businesses in the United States should become mission driven.