"Taxes, Regulations and Business Structure in the US" joint with Gustavo Ventura
Abstract: Since the 1980s, the U.S. has seen a notable shift in business structure: the output share of pass-through entities (S-corporations, LLCs, partnerships, sole proprietorships) nearly doubled, while that of C-corporations declined. Over the same period, tax policies and avoidance behaviors also changed substantially. Using a dynamic growth model with occupation choice, entrepreneurial risk, and endogenous tax avoidance, we assess the extent to which these factors account for the output reallocation. We find that changes in taxation, borrowing capacity, and tax avoidance account for approximately 43 percent of the observed shift. The results imply that additional mechanisms are needed to fully account for the reallocation.
Abstract: The United States has experienced a significant decline in firm entry rates and entrepreneurship since the 1980s. I document that this decline is more pronounced among married households and men, coinciding with changes in demographic composition (including the share of married households, skilled individuals, and marital sorting) and the rise in female labor force participation. To explore the relationship between demographic shifts and entrepreneurship, I develop a model of occupational choice that incorporates marital status, education, and gender. My findings suggest that changes in demographic composition account for 76% of the decline in entrepreneurship in the U.S.
Abstract: This paper investigates the joint role of managerial incentives and corporate taxation in shaping firm innovation and intangible capital accumulation through utilizing the 2017 U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) as a laboratory for empirical analysis. Using a difference-in-differences design combined with propensity score matching and detailed firm-level data, we find that firms with higher pre-TCJA exposure to performance-based executive pay significantly increased R&D spending, patenting activity, and intangible investment following the reform, particularly among those experiencing an increase in marginal tax rates. Concurrently, these firms reallocated incentive pay away from top executives toward broader employee groups. The effects are most pronounced among growth-oriented firms, which internally financed their innovation surge. These findings highlight the joint role of tax exposure and managerial incentives in driving strategic investment decisions.
"Entrepreneurship, Inequality, and Redistribution" joint with Hakki Yazici
"Marital Sorting, Joint Labor Supply and the Gender Wage Gap" joint with Terry Cheung and Siyu Shi.