Sorting into Entrepreneurial Teams by Marta Morazzoni

Join us for this week's Macroeconomics Research Seminar, Spring Term 2026.

Marta Morazzoni, from University College London, will present this week's Macroeconomics seminar on Sorting into Entrepreneurial Teams.

Abstract

This paper studies how entrepreneurs sort into teams and how team entrepreneurship affects the equilibrium distribution of firms. Leveraging employer-employee administrative records matched with private companies’ balance sheet data for Portugal, we show that firms of entrepreneurial teams have higher sales, productivity and survival rates than those of single entrepreneurs. We then exploit information on agents’ careers before opening a firm to establish that there is a strong degree of sorting in entrepreneurial teams along observed and unobserved heterogeneity. A novel theory of career choices and team formation rationalizes why similarity in entrepreneurs’ overall talent and dissimilarity in their skill specialization lead to better firm outcomes, providing insights into the micro-foundations of firm growth.

This seminar will be held on campus in 5B.307 at 1.30pm on Tuesday, 27 January 2026. This event is open to all levels of study and is also open to the public. To register your place, please contact the seminar organisers.

This event is part of the Macroeconomics Research Seminar Series.