Is Economic Growth Lower Due to Fewer Start-Ups?

Interesting NY Times story about the reduced number of start-ups possibly being a drag on economic growth, or put another way, the lower number of start-ups corresponds to lower economic growth rates.   Here is link to story:  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/business/economy/startup-business.html?smid=tw-share

What I find interesting is that just a few years ago, patent academics in the US (some of which admit to being funded by a large US tech company) were blaming trolls for inhibiting start-up activity, and hobbling economic growth for giant mega-corporations.  The NY Times article suggests a very different reason for that:  large corporates have so much market power it is difficult for start-ups to get enough oxygen to survive.  Of course, a start-up with a successful product can at least get a measure of countervailing market power from its patent portfolio.  That is, if it can get past Section 101 subject matter eligibility challenges, and avoid having its patents thrown into daisy-chained IPR challenges.   Its understanding that we needed a solution to trolls, but it should not come at the expense of start-ups activity, without which our tech industry cannot thrive.

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