- The Nasdaq Economic Institute will serve as a dedicated platform for original research, expert analysis, and convenings of market participants, policymakers, and regulators on the most critical issues shaping the financial ecosystem
- The Institute releases its inaugural AI research series, with the first report highlighting how generative AI is lowering barriers to entry for entrepreneurs, accelerating new business formation and enabling more entrepreneurship
Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today announced the launch of the Nasdaq Economic Institute, a new research platform designed to help policymakers, regulators, and market participants better understand the dynamics shaping capital markets and the broader financial ecosystem.
As its first major initiative, the Institute is launching a new research series focused on how AI is transforming the foundations of the global economy and markets. The first report in this series explores how generative AI is lowering barriers to entry for entrepreneurship and driving an increase in new business formation. The analysis shows that the recent rise in business creation is being driven almost entirely by solo entrepreneurs, as advances in generative AI and agentic tools enable individuals to build and scale businesses with significantly fewer resources. This shift is particularly pronounced in sectors with higher AI adoption, which are also the sectors that have seen the strongest productivity gains in the last 20 years, pointing to a new wave of more productive, technology-enabled companies entering the market.
The Economic Institute
With a client community spanning 10,000+ corporates, 5,000+ institutional investors, and 3,800+ financial institutions — and technology infrastructure embedded across 140+ markets and regulators worldwide, Nasdaq is uniquely positioned to produce research that connects ground-level market data to broader economic trends.
"Better markets are built on better insights,” said Jeremy Skule, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Nasdaq. "At a time when economies, technologies and capital flows are evolving at unprecedented speed, the need for rigorous, independent and data driven economic research has never been greater. Nasdaq has always been at the intersection of technology, innovation and capital formation, and we are expanding that commitment by helping define and shape the conversations of the future."
In addition to exploring the impact of emerging technologies on the economy, the Institute will publish research across three core areas critical to the health and evolution of capital markets. These areas include:
- Capital Formation: Exploring trends and solutions that enable companies to access public markets efficiently and sustainably.
- Market Modernization: Advancing dialogue on technology-driven transformation and regulatory frameworks that enhance the liquidity, transparency, and integrity of markets globally.
- Financial Resiliency: Providing insights to bolster the financial system’s risk architecture amid dynamic global conditions and evolving paradigms.
“The financial ecosystem is growing more complex, more interconnected, and more consequential by the day. Through the Nasdaq Economic Institute, we have an opportunity to produce the kind of original, data-grounded research that cuts through that complexity, and I’m honored to lead that mission on behalf of Nasdaq and the broader financial community,” said Phil Mackintosh, Senior Vice President, Nasdaq Chief Economist.
Beyond research, the Institute will serve as a convening platform that brings together market participants, policymakers, regulators, and academic experts to examine the shifts reshaping the global financial ecosystem. Through roundtables, forums, and strategic dialogues, the Institute will facilitate informed discussion on topics such as access to public markets, the modernization of market infrastructure, and the evolving role of regulation in maintaining transparent, efficient, and resilient markets. These convenings are intended not only to surface insights, but to foster greater alignment across stakeholders navigating increasingly complex and interconnected systems.
For more research from the Nasdaq Economic Institute, visit https://www.nasdaq.com/economic-institute. For ongoing market analysis from Phil Mackintosh, Nasdaq's Chief Economist, subscribe to his newsletter The Print, formerly, Market Makers.
The Institute’s AI Research Series: The Rise in Business Formation
Coinciding with the Institute's launch is the debut of its AI research series. The first report in the series focuses on the profound impact of artificial intelligence on business formation. The research reveals that since early 2025, new business applications have accelerated, aligning closely with the rapid improvement in generative AI and agentic coding tools.
Key findings from the first report include:
- Entrepreneurship is rising with advances in generative AI and introduction of agentic tools. New business applications have accelerated sharply since early 2025, with the timing aligning closely with advances in generative AI and the introduction of agentic AI tools.
- The increase is almost exclusively driven by one-person businesses. Applications from businesses likely to hire employees are largely flat. This increase is coming from sole proprietors, freelancers, and independent contractors.
- These solo businesses are forming in the most historically productive sectors in the economy. Tech, finance, and professional services — the sectors with the highest AI adoption — have averaged 2.2% annual productivity growth since 2005, far above the rest of the economy, making new business formation clustering in these sectors a strong signal for long-run productivity.
"What's striking isn't just that entrepreneurship is increasing — it's who's driving it and where," said Phil Mackintosh, Chief Economist at Nasdaq. "These are solo operators, and they're forming in the sectors that have consistently delivered the strongest productivity growth. That combination is a meaningful signal for where AI's economic impact may show up first."
