Easier to Start, Harder to Succeed: Barriers to Black Entrepreneurship since the Great Recession Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • We use a structural framework to interpret trends related to Black entrepreneurship, and infer how race-specific barriers faced by Black entrepreneurs have changed since the Great Recession. While all barriers declined consistently before the Recession, we find only the cost of starting a firm has declined since, relative to the cost faced by non-Black entrepreneurs. Since the Recession, Black entrepreneurs have experienced sharply increasing costs of employing labor and capital, and declining demand relative to other entrepreneurs. As a result, convergence in entrepreneurship rates has stalled.

published proceedings

  • AEA PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS

author list (cited authors)

  • Bento, P., & Hwang, S.

citation count

  • 0

complete list of authors

  • Bento, Pedro||Hwang, Sunju

publication date

  • January 2022