Benjamin Wild Pugsley

Robert and Irene Bozzone Associate Professor of Economics, University of Notre Dame, 2022---Present

Previous Appointments

Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Notre Dame, 2017--- 2022

Visiting Scholar, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics, University of Chicago, Spring 2022

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Columbia Business School, 2015---2017

Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2012---2017

Lecturer, University of Chicago, 2010---2012

Education

Ph.D. Economics, University of Chicago, 2012

M.A. Economics, University of Chicago, 2008

B.A. Economics, Columbia University, 2004

Research

Publications

"Demographic Origins of the Startup Deficit" with Fatih Karahan and Aysegul Sahin, American Economic Review,  Forthcoming

"The Nature of Firm Growth" with Petr Sedlacek and Vincent Sterk, American Economic Review, February 2021

"Grown-up Business Cycles" with Ayşegül Şahin, Review of Financial Studies, March 2019

"Older and Slower: The Startup Deficit's Lasting Impact on Productivity Growth" with Titan Alon, David Berger, and Rob Dent. Journal of Monetary Economics, January 2018 

"Do Job to Job Transitions Drive Wage Growth over the Business Cycle" with Fatih Karahan, Ryan Michaels, Aysegul Sahin and Rachel Schuh. American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, May 2017 

"The Role of Startups in Structural Transformation" with Rob Dent, Fatih Karahn, and Aysegul Sahin. American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, May 2016 

"Wealth, Tastes and Entrepreneurship" with Erik Hurst. Chapter in Measuring Entrepreneurial Businesses: Current Knowledge and Challenges, 2017 

"Are Household Surveys Like Tax Forms: Evidence from Income Underreporting of the Self-Employed" with Erik Hurst and Geng Li, Review of Economics and Statistics, March 2014 

"What do Small Businesses Do?" with Erik Hurst. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. Fall 2011 

"The Mistake of 1937: A General Equilibrium Analysis" with Gauti Eggertsson. Monetary and Economic Studies,  Dec 2006

Published Comments

"Comment on `Structural Transformation and the Rise of Information Technology' by Gallipoli and Makridis" Journal of Monetary Economics, August 2018

Working Papers

"Superstar Firms through the Generations" with Yueran Ma and Kaspar Zimmermann, April 2024.

"The Rise of Pass-Throughs: An Empirical Investigation" with Sebastian Dyrda, March 2024. Revision invited at Economic Journal. Submitted

"The Uneven Costs of the Volcker Disinflation" with Hannah Rubinton, April 2023. Revision invited at JPE: Macro.

"Taxes, Private Equity, and Evolution of Income Inequality in the U.S." with Sebastian Dyrda, September 2021

"How to Tax Capitalists in the 21st Century" with Sebastian Dyrda, September 2021

Research in Progress

"Liquidity Effects of Unemployment Benefit Extensions: Evidence from Consumer Credit Data" with Rene Chalom, Fatih Karahan and Kurt Mitman

"Macroeconomic Effects of the Rise in Pass-through Businesses" with Sebastian Dyrda

"How Free is Free Entry" with Fatih Karahan and Aysegul Sahin

Census Research Projects

Co-principal Investigator: "Understanding Sources of Heterogeneity in Entrepreneurial and Business Lifecycles," with Nicolas Crouzet, Kirk Doran, Britta Glennon (PI), Zike Hernandez, and Yueran Ma, under review.

Principal Investigator: “The Dynamics of the Small Business Sector: Evidence from the Survey of Business Owners and the Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs,” with Sari Kerr, Robert Fairlie, William Kerr, and Alicia Robb. US Census Research Data Center proposal 1731, June 2018 through June 2023.

Principal Investigator: “Industry and Sectoral Variation in Firm Dynamics,” with Erik Hurst, April 2011. US Census Research Data Center project 908, August 2013 through August 2017

Teaching

University of Notre Dame

Columbia Business School

University of Chicago

Awards

Seminar and Conference Presentations

Includes scheduled

^ co-author presented, º discussant 

Discussions

Service

Referee 

Grant Reviewer

Board Member

Department

Conferences