The value of private business in the United States

Richard Cole Campbell and Jacob A. Robbins

Journal of Public Economics, 2025, vol. 249, issue C

Abstract: Private companies account for almost half of aggregate sales and profits of the US economy, but valuing them is difficult due to lack of public market data. This paper uses two databases of private business transactions to estimate valuation ratios and applies them to private business aggregates. We estimate aggregate private business wealth of $14.1 trillion in 2018, twice as large as measured in the Financial Accounts. Our estimates of partnership wealth are six times larger than Financial Accounts estimates, which value partnerships at book value with no adjustment from market based multiples.

Keywords: Private business; Valuation; Wealth inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:249:y:2025:i:c:s0047272725001641

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2025.105466

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