Research

This paper investigates why entrepreneurs differ so widely in the hours they devote to their businesses and the corresponding variation in firm size and wealth. Using the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, I document three robust patterns: entrepreneurial hours are highly dispersed, longer hours are strongly associated with larger firms in terms of sales and employment, and short-hour entrepreneurs are typically asset-poor. I replicate these findings in complementary datasets and show that standard models based on productivity or financial frictions alone cannot account for them. To explain these patterns, I develop a structural model in which entrepreneurs choose both whether to enter and how many hours to work, with heterogeneity in both productivity and leisure preferences. Calibrated to match moments on hours, the model reproduces the observed dispersion in labor supply, the monotonic scaling of firm outcomes with hours, and the distribution of assets across hour groups. Counterfactual experiments reveal that relaxing borrowing constraints has modest effects, while heterogeneity in preferences and strong complementarity between entrepreneurial hours and hired labor are central to understanding entrepreneurial diversity. The results highlight the role of non-pecuniary motives in shaping business outcomes and provide a framework for analyzing how policies interact with both financial and behavioral drivers of entrepreneurship.

This paper examines whether the lifetimes of consumer durables have declined over time and investigates the underlying drivers. Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) and the Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), we document a shortening of appliance lifespans alongside falling relative prices. We develop and calibrate a quantitative model of household replacement decisions to decompose these trends into supply-side (technological depreciation, planned obsolescence) and demand-side (price and income effects) forces. Preliminary results suggest that both faster depreciation and declining relative prices contribute significantly to reduced durability, with technological changes accounting for roughly half of the decline in the share of older appliances.

I study how differences in time allocation and preferences influence women’s entry into entrepreneurship and subsequent business growth. Using data from the Current Population Survey and 2007 Survey of Business Owners, I show that married women with children engage in a higher proportion of non-market activities as compared to their single counterparts. This disparity in time allocation contributes to significant variations in economic outcomes, both across genders and within the female demographic. I develop a quantitative model that examines the effects of gender asymmetry in non-market activities on occupational choice and business performance, highlighting the complex relationship between gender, non-market activities, and entrepreneurial outcomes.