January 2025

IZA DP No. 17638: From Startup to Success: Using Gen Z Entrepreneurs to Teach Economics

This paper builds upon the work of McCaffrey (2016) who explores how economics can enhance entrepreneurship education. We extended the work of McCaffrey in two distinct ways. First, we emphasize the economic understanding every private enterprise needs to be successful. Second, we developed teaching guides which feature three successful Gen Z entrepreneurs – Max Hayden, Mikaila Ulmer, and Alexandr Wang. Their stories embody business acumen and the entrepreneurial ability necessary to succeed in a rapidly changing world. The lessons build upon the work of Milovanska-Farrington et al. (2023) and DeWind et al. (2023) who illustrate foundation-level economic concepts in an engaging way that resonates with Gen Z students.