Lafayette Square Institute has released a short-form brief
In April of 2025, Lafayette Square Institute released a short-form brief, “Critical Industries and Employee Ownership: Assessing the Risks of Business Succession to U.S. National and Economic Security”
High-level takeaways:
· Business succession often results in a sale to a buyer not committed to domestic employment and production or even outright business closure.
· The “silver tsunami” of retiring baby boomers poses a risk to the U.S. industrial base, particularly in sectors designated as “critical industries” to national security.
· Evidence points to Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOPs) as a proven, bipartisan tool to mitigate these business succession risks while building generational wealth for American workers.
Policymakers have the opportunity to turn the demographic risks of business succession into a U.S. competitive advantage by accelerating the growth of employee ownership.
