The Promise and Peril of Entrepreneurship: Job Creation and Survival among US Startups
A clearer view of entrepreneurship, based on new comprehensive data, that upends what we know about job creation and survival among US startups.

Startups create jobs and power economic growth. That’s an article of faith in the United States—but, as The Promise and Peril of Entrepreneurship reveals, our faith may be built on shaky ground. Economists Robert Fairlie, Zachary Kroff, Javier Miranda, and Nikolas Zolas—working with Census Bureau microdata—have developed a new data set, the Comprehensive Startup Panel, that tracks job creation and the survival of every startup in the country. In doing so, they recalibrate our understanding of how startups behave in the US economy. Specifically, their work seeks to answer three critical questions: How many jobs does each entrepreneur create? Do those jobs disappear quickly? And how long do entrepreneurial enterprises survive?
Job creation and survival rates are, the authors conclude, much lower than those reported by official federal sources. Such discrepancies emerge from the more comprehensive picture drawn from this new data set—a picture that, for instance, highlights the important but understudied differences between employer firms (startups that hire people) and nonemployer firms (startups that do not initially hire people but may do so in later years as they grow). This reframing captures the vast number of businesses that start with no employees, a number largely missing from the statistics underpinning the mythos of the riskiness of entrepreneurship. The book also explores who owns startups—focusing on differences by race and ethnicity.

With its new, wider view of the realities of job creation and survival among startups, The Promise and Peril of Entrepreneurship has significant implications for economic policymaking and research, and for the billions of dollars that the government and the private sector invest in promoting entrepreneurship.
"1142610516"
The Promise and Peril of Entrepreneurship: Job Creation and Survival among US Startups
A clearer view of entrepreneurship, based on new comprehensive data, that upends what we know about job creation and survival among US startups.

Startups create jobs and power economic growth. That’s an article of faith in the United States—but, as The Promise and Peril of Entrepreneurship reveals, our faith may be built on shaky ground. Economists Robert Fairlie, Zachary Kroff, Javier Miranda, and Nikolas Zolas—working with Census Bureau microdata—have developed a new data set, the Comprehensive Startup Panel, that tracks job creation and the survival of every startup in the country. In doing so, they recalibrate our understanding of how startups behave in the US economy. Specifically, their work seeks to answer three critical questions: How many jobs does each entrepreneur create? Do those jobs disappear quickly? And how long do entrepreneurial enterprises survive?
Job creation and survival rates are, the authors conclude, much lower than those reported by official federal sources. Such discrepancies emerge from the more comprehensive picture drawn from this new data set—a picture that, for instance, highlights the important but understudied differences between employer firms (startups that hire people) and nonemployer firms (startups that do not initially hire people but may do so in later years as they grow). This reframing captures the vast number of businesses that start with no employees, a number largely missing from the statistics underpinning the mythos of the riskiness of entrepreneurship. The book also explores who owns startups—focusing on differences by race and ethnicity.

With its new, wider view of the realities of job creation and survival among startups, The Promise and Peril of Entrepreneurship has significant implications for economic policymaking and research, and for the billions of dollars that the government and the private sector invest in promoting entrepreneurship.
28.99 In Stock
The Promise and Peril of Entrepreneurship: Job Creation and Survival among US Startups

The Promise and Peril of Entrepreneurship: Job Creation and Survival among US Startups

The Promise and Peril of Entrepreneurship: Job Creation and Survival among US Startups

The Promise and Peril of Entrepreneurship: Job Creation and Survival among US Startups

eBook

$28.99 

Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
WANT A NOOK?  Explore Now

Related collections and offers


Overview

A clearer view of entrepreneurship, based on new comprehensive data, that upends what we know about job creation and survival among US startups.

Startups create jobs and power economic growth. That’s an article of faith in the United States—but, as The Promise and Peril of Entrepreneurship reveals, our faith may be built on shaky ground. Economists Robert Fairlie, Zachary Kroff, Javier Miranda, and Nikolas Zolas—working with Census Bureau microdata—have developed a new data set, the Comprehensive Startup Panel, that tracks job creation and the survival of every startup in the country. In doing so, they recalibrate our understanding of how startups behave in the US economy. Specifically, their work seeks to answer three critical questions: How many jobs does each entrepreneur create? Do those jobs disappear quickly? And how long do entrepreneurial enterprises survive?
Job creation and survival rates are, the authors conclude, much lower than those reported by official federal sources. Such discrepancies emerge from the more comprehensive picture drawn from this new data set—a picture that, for instance, highlights the important but understudied differences between employer firms (startups that hire people) and nonemployer firms (startups that do not initially hire people but may do so in later years as they grow). This reframing captures the vast number of businesses that start with no employees, a number largely missing from the statistics underpinning the mythos of the riskiness of entrepreneurship. The book also explores who owns startups—focusing on differences by race and ethnicity.

With its new, wider view of the realities of job creation and survival among startups, The Promise and Peril of Entrepreneurship has significant implications for economic policymaking and research, and for the billions of dollars that the government and the private sector invest in promoting entrepreneurship.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780262373982
Publisher: MIT Press
Publication date: 08/01/2023
Sold by: Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format: eBook
Pages: 232
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Robert Fairlie is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research.

Zachary Kroff is an economist with the Center for Economic Studies at the US Census Bureau.

Javier Miranda is Deputy Head of the Department of Structural Change and Productivity at the Halle Institute for Economic Research in Germany. He is also Associate Professor in Microeconomics, Productivity Research, at Friedrich Schiller University Jena.

Nikolas Zolas is Senior Economist with the Center for Economic Studies at the US Census Bureau.

Table of Contents

Preface vii
1 Introduction: Entrepreneurship 1
2 Businesses and Startups in the United States 15
3 Job Creation by Startups 39
4 Startup Survival 61
5 The Dynamics of Job Creation and Survival among Startups 77
6 Refining Our Definition of an Entrepreneur 99
7 Who Owns Startups? 133
8 Policy Implications and Future Research 167
Notes 191
References 203
Index 215

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“How much do startups matter for the dynamism of the economy? Using the best new data, The Promise and Peril of Entrepreneurship offers comprehensive answers that will be required reading for policy makers and researchers.”
—David Card, Professor, UC Berkeley; co-recipient of 2021 Nobel memorial prize in economics
 
 
“This book takes an exciting new look at the definition of entrepreneurship in our country and sheds light on the value of the smallest businesses to our economy.”
—Karen G. Mills, Senior Fellow, Harvard Business School; former Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews