[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":3,"doc-seo-305436-105":53,"doc-detail-305436-en":126},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,14,19,24,29,34,39,44,49],{"id":8,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":11,"show_sort_weight":12,"slug":13},11,1,"Template","Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":15,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":16,"show_sort_weight":17,"slug":18},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":20,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":21,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":23},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":25,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":26,"show_sort_weight":27,"slug":28},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":30,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":31,"show_sort_weight":32,"slug":33},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":35,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":36,"show_sort_weight":37,"slug":38},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":40,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":41,"show_sort_weight":42,"slug":43},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":45,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":46,"show_sort_weight":47,"slug":48},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":50,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":51,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":52},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":54,"data":55},"ok",{"site_id":56,"language":57,"slug":58,"title":59,"keywords":60,"description":61,"schema_data":62,"social_meta":119,"head_meta":121,"extra_data":123,"updated_unix":125},105,"en","entrepreneurship-in-the-twenty-first-century-plain-english-summary","Entrepreneurship in the Twenty-First Century - Plain English Summary","","Entrepreneurship in the twenty-first century examines how employer business startups drive disproportionate job creation, innovation, and productivity growth through trial and error. It describes a declining U.S. startup rate and a shifting share toward mega firms since 2000, alongside evidence of reduced productivity growth and weaker business dynamism. The paper also considers pandemic-related changes, including surging business applications, and evaluates whether these signal a persistent or temporary turnaround.",{"@graph":63,"@context":118},[64,80,101],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":51,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/general/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/entrepreneurship-in-the-twenty-first-century-plain-english-summary/305436/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/entrepreneurship-in-the-twenty-first-century-plain-english-summary/305436.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Oliver Hayes","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-20","2026-09-19",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":73},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",{"@type":102,"mainEntity":103},"FAQPage",[104,110,114],{"name":105,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":107},"How do employer startups contribute to economic performance?","Question",{"text":108,"@type":109},"They contribute disproportionately to job creation, innovation, and productivity growth. The effect reflects trial and error, experimentation, and the role of induced innovation by entrepreneurs.","Answer",{"name":111,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What has changed in the U.S. startup landscape since the post-2000 period?",{"text":113,"@type":109},"The startup rate has declined, and young firms account for a smaller share of activity. At the same time, mega firms (10,000+ employees) account for a larger share.",{"name":115,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the paper relate these trends to the global pandemic?",{"text":117,"@type":109},"The pandemic had a major adverse impact on health, morbidity, daily life, and economic activity. However, it also notes a surge in new business applications that may indicate a turning point in entrepreneurial activity.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":120,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":122,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":124,"site_id":56},305436,1789824907,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":127},{"doc_id":124,"user_id":128,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":9,"category_id":50,"category_name":51,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":73,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":20,"language":135,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":136,"faqs":137,"seo_title":138,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":125,"read_time":47},687207020761,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","Small Bus Econ  \n[https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-021-00542-0](https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-021-00542-0)  \nEntrepreneurship in the twenty‑first century John Haltiwanger  \nAccepted: 7 May 2021 © The Author(s) 2021  \nAbstract Employer business startups contribute disproportionately to job creation, innovation, and productivity growth. This contribution is dynamic and complex involving much trial and error. Most startups fail or do not grow but a small fraction grow rapidly contributing substantially to economic performance. In the USA, there has been a decline in startup rate and the share of activity accounted for by young firms over the last couple of decades. This decline has accelerated and become pervasive in the post-2000 period even in innovative-intensive sectors. The flip side of this change is an accompanying increase in the share of activity accounted for by mega (10,000+) firms in the post- 2000 period. While both benign and adverse factors may underlie these structural changes, the post-2000 period has also exhibited a decline in productivity growth along with indicators of business dynamism. The global  \nThis paper was written for the Global Award for Research Entrepreneurship prize lecture. Without implication, this paper draws on collaborative research with numerous colleagues I have worked within the development and analysis of the Business Dynamic Statistics (BDS) and the Business Formation Statistics (BFS) . The collaborative research with these colleagues is cited extensively in the text and included in the references.  \nJ. Haltiwanger (*)  \nUniversity of Maryland, College Park, USA [e-mail: halt@umd.edu](e-mail: halt@umd.edu)  \nJ. Haltiwanger  \nNBER, Cambridge, USA  \npandemic has had a major adverse impact on health, morbidity, daily life, and economic activity. However, there has been a surge in new business applications that may signal a turning point in entrepreneurial activity.  \nPlain English Summary In the twenty-first century, we have witnessed a sharp decline in the number of new startups in the USA across all sectors, including those sectors considered high-tech and innovative. The reason why this has occurred is still open for discussion and debate. This development is worrying as new startups contribute disproportionately to job creation, innovation, and productivity growth. Alongside this, the global pandemic has brought about a massive reduction in economic activity and its restructuring. At the same time, there has been a distinct increase in applications for new businesses, especially in industries that facilitate remote interactions between businesses and consumers and businesses and workers. It is an open question whether this reverses the long-run trend of declining entrepreneurship that the USA has been experiencing or if this has only brought about a temporary change. There will be plenty of opportunities for future research to disentangle the reasons for and persistence in the business dynamics seen in US data.  \nKeywords Entrepreneurship · Job creation · Productivity growth  \nJEL classifications L25 · L26 · O33  \n1 3  \nMuch evidence shows that new employer startups contribute disproportionately to job creation, innovation, and productivity growth. Entrepreneurs both are induced by and induce innovation. This contribution of new employer businesses reflects patterns of trial and error and experimentation. Most new businesses fail within the first five years of entry and, conditional on survival, most do not grow (see Haltiwanger et al., 2013, and Decker et al., 2014) . However, a relatively small fraction of young businesses grow very rapidly and it is these high growth firms that are especially important for job creation that persists, innovation and productivity growth.1  \nWhile high growth firms are more likely to be found in innovative-intensive sectors (see, e.g., Acemoglu et al., 2018, Guzman and Stern, 2020, and Decker et al., 2016), young businesses in these sectors exhibit enor","cbCaiipaPR75ncQC","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiipaPR75ncQC","pdf",2037931,"English","# Abstract\n# Plain English Summary\n# Startup Contributions and Growth Dynamics\n# High-Growth Firms and Sector Variation\n# Dispersion, Experimentation, and Productivity Growth\n# Twenty-First Century Trends and Explanations\n# Ongoing Research Context","[{\"question\":\"How do employer startups contribute to economic performance?\",\"answer\":\"They contribute disproportionately to job creation, innovation, and productivity growth. The effect reflects trial and error, experimentation, and the role of induced innovation by entrepreneurs.\"},{\"question\":\"What has changed in the U.S. startup landscape since the post-2000 period?\",\"answer\":\"The startup rate has declined, and young firms account for a smaller share of activity. At the same time, mega firms (10,000+ employees) account for a larger share.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper relate these trends to the global pandemic?\",\"answer\":\"The pandemic had a major adverse impact on health, morbidity, daily life, and economic activity. However, it also notes a surge in new business applications that may indicate a turning point in entrepreneurial activity.\"}]","Entrepreneurship in the Twenty-First Century - Plain English Summary | PDF"]