The present research seeks to answer this question by
examining determinants of failure within a sample of
bankrupt enterprises. Rather than examining which firms
exit in contrast to those that do not, we evaluate causes
of failure among firms that exited the economy at different
ages. By so doing, we are able to get beyond the
observed age-mortality relationship and begin to understand
why young firms fail at consistently higher rates,
and also why failure continues to haunt firms that have
survived their initial liabilities of newness and smallness.