# The Economic Costs of the Russia-Ukraine War: A Synthetic Control Study of (Lost) Entrepreneurship

**Authors:** David Audretsch, Paul P. Momtaz, Hanna Motuzenko, Silvio Vismara  
**arXiv:** [2303.02773](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.02773)  
**Date:** 2023-03-05  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/fr/paper/2303.02773v1/

## Abstract

This synthetic control study quantifies the economic costs of the Russo-Ukrainian war in terms of foregone entrepreneurial activity in both countries since the invasion of Crimea in 2014. Relative to its synthetic counterfactual, Ukraine's number of self-employed dropped by 675,000, corresponding to a relative loss of 20%. The number of Ukrainian SMEs temporarily dropped by 71,000 (14%) and recovered within five years of the conflict. In contrast, Russia had lost more than 1.4 million SMEs (42%) five years into the conflict. The disappearance of Russian SMEs is driven by both fewer new businesses created and more existing business closures.