What’s driving the decline in entrepreneurship?

Nicholas Kozeniauskas

Journal of Monetary Economics, 2025, vol. 154, issue C

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Skill-biased technical change; Occupational choice; Productivity; Fixed costs; Entry costs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E23 E24 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:moneco:v:154:y:2025:i:c:s0304393225000832

DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2025.103812

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