In summary, some new analysis demonstrates that when people know that there's a social safety net there to catch them if their attempt to start a new business fails, people start more new businesses. The same is true when bankruptcy laws are more lenient.
If true, that would indicate that screwing down on bankruptcy laws and getting rid of welfare programs, both conservative ideals (so as to reduce the "moral hazard" of "dependency") may have an opposite effect of what they want to see happen: people taking risks to create new businesses and innovate, cornerstones of American economic freedom, as Ronald Reagan himself boasted.
Welfare Makes America More Entrepreneurial
Research shows that when governments provide citizens with economic security, they embolden them to take more risks.
It occurs to me that this may be part of the post-WWII boom — the first time in history when you started having a safety net (in the form of social security), which only increased over the following few decades.
They have to give people crumbs at least, when they've stolen their bread.
+beatusqui "Do not bind the mouths of the kine who tread the grain."