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The Role of Nonemployers in Business Dynamism and Aggregate Productivity

Pedro Bento & Diego Restuccia

Journal of Political Economy: Macroeconomics2025https://doi.org/10.1086/735032article
ABDC A
Weight
0.43

Abstract

We examine the role of nonemployers in business dynamism and aggregate productivity. Between 1982 and 2014, the number of firms per worker including nonemployers increased by 41%. Using a model of firm dynamics, we derive implications for total factor productivity from changes in firms per worker and relative size distributions. Firm dynamics imply a 15.6% increase in aggregate productivity, compared with 2.1% growth when abstracting from nonemployers. Our results suggest that the productivity growth slowdown is not due to changes in net firm entry and highlight the quantitative importance of comprehensive measures of business dynamism in the US data.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1086/735032

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@article{pedro2025,
  title        = {{The Role of Nonemployers in Business Dynamism and Aggregate Productivity}},
  author       = {Pedro Bento & Diego Restuccia},
  journal      = {Journal of Political Economy: Macroeconomics},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1086/735032},
}

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The Role of Nonemployers in Business Dynamism and Aggregate Productivity

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Evidence weight

0.43

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.32 × 0.4 = 0.13
M · momentum0.55 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.