The spectacular fall of those seen as among the business elite has undermined public confidence in business generally

IN A week when this newspaper’s coverage of all things commercial has been expanded, it is opportune to consider Irish attitudes to business and, more widely, to capitalism itself. To do so meaningfully, comparison must be made with other countries. Start with status. In Ireland, going into business has never had the cachet of the professions or the (perceived) integrity of devoting oneself to public service.

A tendency to view as money-grubbers those who spend their working lives in commercial enterprise is strong, even by European standards where it is far more common than in Asia or America.

In many aspects, public discourse on business in Ireland is a mirror image of the United States. Americans idolise entrepreneurs and admire their corporate executives. Here, the likes of Chris Horn and Ray Nolan are not lauded as are Bill Gates and Steve Jobs in America. Nor, with limited exceptions, are start-up companies who are struggling to take off.

In the US, there is a near-cult of the CEO and company bosses are often described admiringly as “business leaders”. Here, “captain of industry” is a much more common label, and, when used, it is more often than not tinged, if not laden, with irony.

Differences in attitudes towards business in Ireland and in the land of opportunity are also reflected in political discourse. In the US, politicians on the hustings almost always talk about small business and helping start-ups when making their pitch on economic management. Here, politicians rarely urge people to start businesses. When they talk about jobs, it is as often as not in the context of convincing foreign companies to create employment rather than depending on self-starting indigenous enterprise.

Attitudes to business reflect attitudes to capitalism. In the US, any case for greater state intervention is inevitably met with an accusation of “socialism”. This is lunkheaded, but it reflects the strong preference for private enterprise and a near paranoia about over-weaning government.

Here, the equivalent to the vacuous charge of socialism in the US is the equally half-witted labelling of someone or some policy position as “right wing” if greater private involvement and/or a diminution of the State’s role is mooted. This reflects deep suspicions of business and a naively benign view of the State and its agents.

Opinion poll data on attitudes to business supports the above impressions. Trust in business among Irish respondents was the sixth lowest of 19 countries surveyed by the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer. In only three countries was there greater support for more government regulation of business.

A measure of attitudes to market liberalism is provided by the Eurobarometer survey. In 2010, people across Europe were asked for their views on globalisation. Irish respondents were lukewarm (close to the EU 27 mid-range on most questions) despite the fact that no other country in Europe (or arguably in the world) has benefited from globalisation more than Ireland. Astonishingly, on the question “has globalisation meant more foreign investment?”, only 53 per cent of Irish respondents said yes, putting it in 20th place out of the 27. Tepid popular support for the liberal world economic order is reflected at the political level.

Much, if not most, of the market opening that has taken place in domestic sectors came about as a result of EU-level legislation. And when it comes to freeing global trade, Ireland has always lined up behind France and the protectionist south of Europe, not the free trading northern multilateralists – the Nordics, the Netherlands and Britain.

Irish anti-commerce prejudice may have lessened in recent decades as business has become more demotic owing to falling barriers to entry into a widening range of sectors, but it is alive and well. And the effects of the (universal) demotic shift in business in this country are likely to have been offset, partially at the very least, by bubble-era celebrity property developers still living high on the hog and uncontrite bankers who have paid little or nothing for their gross failures to do what they are supposed to be expert at – assessing risk. The spectacular fall and failings of those who had been seen as among the business elite has undermined public confidence in business generally. That can only work to perpetuate a prejudice against commerce, and work against the development of a strong indigenous enterprise sector.