Economic and Business Trends

Summary

The global economic and business environment is key to starting a business. With the fast pace of technology innovation, the public view the high-tech sector(the group of industries with very high shares of workers in the STEM occupations of science, technology, engineering, and math) as a pinnacle of entrepreneurship and innovation. However, market data shows a decline in business dynamism of the high-tech sector in the post-2000 period.

A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money (bonds or loans) to meet the cost of acquisition. The purpose of leveraged buyouts is to allow companies to make large acquisitions without having to commit a lot of capital. The trends of LBO transactions in the US have significant impact on economic activity and corporate failures.

Current Work

• Wiki page on Business Dynamism in High Tech which relates decline in high-tech entrepreneurs to increased student debt

• List and data on leveraged buyouts

Future Work

• Issue brief on Business Dynamism in High Tech
• Academic paper on leveraged buyouts