Understanding Firms’ AI Efforts and Their Economic Impact

Our research asks a central question for businesses investing heavily in artificial intelligence: Is AI actually making firms more productive, and if so, how? Using 15 years of data on AI-skilled employment at U.S. public firms, we find that firms increasing their AI investments experienced significantly faster productivity growth from 2018 to 2024—roughly one percentage point of additional productivity growth per year for a one-standard-deviation increase in AI investment. Importantly, these gains do not appear immediately; they build gradually over several years.

Flying High or Crashing Down: Pre-Entry Knowledge and the Distribution of Startup Performance

We examine variation in high-technology startups’ performance based on founders’ pre-entry experiences by developing a formal model and using confidential employee-employer linked microdata from the United States to examine the empirical consistency of the model propositions. The model posits that relative to insiders, a lack of industry-specific experience creates greater epistemic uncertainty regarding optimal business models at time of entry for outsiders and thus, higher post-entry adjustment costs associated with necessary pivots.

Evolution of Ride Services: From Ride- Hailing to Autonomous Vehicles

In recent years the ride service industry has been evolving rapidly, driven by disruptive technologies such as mobile apps, AI, and autonomous vehicles (AVs). While platform-based decentralized ride hailing companies have gained significant market share, vertically-integrated robotaxi services using emerging AVs are starting to enter the market. In this paper, we aim to provide insights about the evolution and the future of ride services studying these two competing business approaches.

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