Reviving American Entrepreneurship? Tax Reform and Business Dynamism
39 Pages Posted: 31 Jul 2018
Date Written: July 2018
Abstract
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act slashed tax rates on business income and introduced immediate expensing of investments. Using a quantitative heterogeneous firms model, we investigate the long-run effects of such tax reforms on firm dynamics. We find that they can substantially increase business dynamism, potentially off-setting the large decline in the U.S. startup rate observed over recent decades. This result is driven by indirect equilibrium forces: the tax reform stimulates firm entry, leading to an increase in labor demand and wages, which in turn makes firm selection more stringent. Related to this is a large boost of the number of firms and of aggregate output, investment and employment.
JEL Classification: D21, E22, E24, H25
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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Reviving American Entrepreneurship? Tax Reform and Business Dynamism
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