Grown-Up Business Cycles

65 Pages Posted: 28 Oct 2015

See all articles by Benjamin W. Pugsley

Benjamin W. Pugsley

University of Notre Dame - Department of Economics

Aysegul Sahin

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: October 01, 2015

Abstract

We document two striking facts about U.S. firm dynamics and interpret their significance for employment dynamics. The first is the dramatic decline in firm entry and the second is the gradual shift of employment toward older firms since 1980. We show that despite these trends, the lifecycle dynamics of firms and their business cycle properties have remained virtually unchanged. Consequently, aging is the delayed effect of accumulating startup deficits. Together, the decline in the employment contribution of startups and the shift of employment toward more mature firms contributed to the emergence of jobless recoveries in the U.S. economy.

Keywords: firm dynamics, employment dynamics, business cycles, entrepreneurship

Suggested Citation

Pugsley, Benjamin W. and Sahin, Aysegul, Grown-Up Business Cycles (October 01, 2015). US Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies Paper No. CES-WP- 15-33, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2681027 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2681027

Benjamin W. Pugsley (Contact Author)

University of Notre Dame - Department of Economics ( email )

Notre Dame, IN 46556
United States

Aysegul Sahin

Federal Reserve Bank of New York ( email )

33 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10045
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
130
Abstract Views
1,048
Rank
262,884
PlumX Metrics