What's driving the decline in entrepreneurship?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kozeniauskas, Nicholas
• 署名单位: Banco de Portugal; Universidade Catolica Portuguesa
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3932
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2025.103812
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: Entrepreneurship; Skill-biased technical change; occupational choice; PRODUCTIVITY; fixed costs; Entry costs

摘要

Why has there been a steady decline in entrepreneurship in the US in recent decades? To answer this question, I develop a general equilibrium occupation choice model and combine it with data on these choices. Skill-biased technical change can account for much of the decline in the relative entrepreneurship rate of more educated people, but cannot explain the decline in the aggregate level of entrepreneurship. The major factors in the decline in the share of people who are entrepreneurs, the firm entry rate, and the size of the entrepreneur sector are rising entry costs and outsized productivity gains by large non-entrepreneur firms.