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What’s driving the decline in entrepreneurship?

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  • Kozeniauskas, Nicholas

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Kozeniauskas, Nicholas, 2025. "What’s driving the decline in entrepreneurship?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:moneco:v:154:y:2025:i:c:s0304393225000832
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2025.103812
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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