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BRITONS and Americans are used to lionisations of the small businessman. This praise is often misplaced it is not so much small firms that drive growth and job creation so much as small and young firms on their way to becoming much larger. Where small firms are most common, as around Europe's southern periphery, their prevalence is sign of uncompetitive markets and low productivity. This week's Free exchange column examines the problem of the stunted European business:
Greece stands out among European Union countries as having the most stunted firms. Around a third of Greek manufacturers are “micro” firms with fewer than ten workers, compared with 4.3% of firms in Germany (see left-hand chart). But the small-firm problem also afflicts the other troubled economies at the euro zone’s southern periphery. Spain lacks biggish manufacturers Italy’s small-firm bias derives in part from a reverence for family firms. Only 19% of Portuguese manufacturers have 250 or more workers, compared with 55% of industrial firms in Germany. “The incredible shrinking Portuguese firm” is the title of a research paper by three economists at Carnegie Mellon University, which shows that Portugal had more small firms and fewer big ones in 2009 than it had in the 1980s. The authors find the trend has been towards larger firms in America, as well as in Denmark, a country of comparable size to Portugal.

A. 어휘
BRITONS 영국인. are used to + 명사 ...에 익숙하다. lionisation 禮讚(예찬).
firms on their way to becoming much larger 계속 성장하고 있는 기업.
periphery 주위, 圓周(원주).
Europe's southern periphery 남부 유럽국가(이탈리아, 그리스, 스페인 등).
prevalence 유행, 우세. stunted 성장을 멈춘, 위축된, 矮小(왜소)한.
manufacturers 제조업체. afflicts 괴롭히다. bias 偏重(편중), 편애, 傾斜(경사).
derives 유래하다. reverence 恭敬(공경), 숭배. industrial firms 제조업체.
incredible 터무니없는, 놀라운. shrinking 오그라들고 있는.