Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/311956 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17517
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The Census Bureau's Longitudinal Business Database (LBD) underpins many studies of firm-level behavior. It tracks longitudinally all employers in the nonfarm private sector but lacks information about business financing and owner characteristics. We address this shortcoming by linking LBD observations to firm-level data drawn from several large Census Bureau surveys. The resulting Longitudinal Employer, Owner, and Financing (LEOF) database contains more than 3 million observations at the firm-year level with information about start-up financing, current financing, owner demographics, ownership structure, profitability, and owner aspirations – all linked to annual firm-level employment data since the firm hired its first employee. Using the LEOF database, we document trends in owner demographics and financing patterns and investigate how these business characteristics relate to firm-level employment outcomes.
Subjects: 
longitudinal business database
employment outcomes
profitability
owner characteristics
financing sources
JEL: 
D22
G32
L26
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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