Entrepreneurship

My main line of research is on the economic impacts of entrepreneurship. I examine the role that the formation of new, independent business has on economic growth, wealth distribution, and so forth. I am particularly interested in new business formation in the high technology sector; these businesses tend to have a disproportionate impact on their environment. I also look at the role of government in influencing entrepreneurship, and how governments can reshape policies to encourage greater entrepreneurship. I prefer a "neo-Schumpeterian" approach to the analysis of entrepreneurship and innovation, but also use a variety of other economic and statistical models to aid in understanding the interplay of entrepreneurship, economics, and public policy.

Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Wealth Distribution: The Impact of Creative Destruction on Income Inequality with Rögnvaldur J. Saemundsson and Bruce Kirchhoff (to be published in International Small Business Journal (link will be available after publication))

Technology and Economic Disruption

This line of research deals primarily with the economic impacts of technological change. Specifically, I look at the role of technology in mitigating the negative impacts of exogenous economic disruptions. One instance of this is the current situation with the electrical grid in the United States. A variety of technologies are available which could ease the load on the grid and make it more reliable, reducing the likelihood of blackouts, price spikes, and so forth, and the associated economic disruption. Another case is the response of the country to terrorism; as we divert resources from productive to protective purposes, our economy will suffer. Technology can help address that. Combining the two cases, we can use new technologies to make the electrical grid less vulnerable to single points of failure which might be the targets of terrorist attacks.

September 11th, 2001: Assessing the Costs of Terrorism with Peter Navarro (in Milken Review, Fall 2001)

Additional articles and working papers will be made available soon.