IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jopoec/v37y2024i1d10.1007_s00148-024-00985-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Asian entrepreneurship in the coronavirus era

Author

Listed:
  • Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes

    (University of California)

  • Cristina Borra

    (Universidad de Sevilla)

  • Chunbei Wang

    (Virginia Tech)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a deleterious impact on the world economy. Studies have documented the disproportional impact of the pandemic on minorities, immigrants, and business owners in the USA. In this study, we use Current Population Survey monthly data spanning from January 2014 through December 2021 to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected Asian entrepreneurship. We show that the pandemic disproportionally hurt Asian entrepreneurship, particularly among immigrants, up until the end of 2020. A detailed analysis of Asian business dynamics reveals a substantial increase in self-employment exits during the first year of the pandemic. We fail to find convincing evidence of differential industry/job-type concentration, individual preferences, majority-minority disparities, narrower clientele, or differential access to government support as primary drivers for such patterns. Instead, we find suggestive evidence of discrimination playing a non-negligible role that subsided in 2021, coinciding with the rollout of vaccines.

Suggested Citation

  • Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Cristina Borra & Chunbei Wang, 2024. "Asian entrepreneurship in the coronavirus era," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 1-34, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:37:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s00148-024-00985-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-024-00985-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00148-024-00985-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00148-024-00985-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert W. Fairlie & Alicia M. Robb, 2008. "Race and Entrepreneurial Success: Black-, Asian-, and White-Owned Businesses in the United States," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026206281x, December.
    2. Fairlie, Robert, 2020. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Small Business Owners: The First Three Months after Social-Distancing Restrictions," MPRA Paper 113127, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Couch, Kenneth A. & Fairlie, Robert W. & Xu, Huanan, 2020. "Early evidence of the impacts of COVID-19 on minority unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    4. Stephens-Davidowitz, Seth, 2014. "The cost of racial animus on a black candidate: Evidence using Google search data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 26-40.
    5. Anderson, D. Mark & Crost, Benjamin & Rees, Daniel I., 2020. "Do economic downturns fuel racial animus?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 9-18.
    6. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Maggie R Jones & Sonya R Porter, 2020. "Race and Economic Opportunity in the United States: an Intergenerational Perspective [“Intergenerational Mobility of Immigrants in the US Over Two Centuries,”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(2), pages 711-783.
    7. Dingel, Jonathan I. & Neiman, Brent, 2020. "How many jobs can be done at home?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    8. Adams-Prassl, Abi & Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Rauh, Christopher, 2020. "Inequality in the impact of the coronavirus shock: Evidence from real time surveys," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    9. Ross Levine & Yona Rubinstein, 2017. "Smart and Illicit: Who Becomes an Entrepreneur and Do They Earn More?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 963-1018.
    10. Graeber, Daniel & Kritikos, Alexander S. & Seebauer, Johannes, 2021. "COVID-19: a crisis of the female self-employed," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 1141-1187.
    11. Cavalluzzo, Ken S & Cavalluzzo, Linda C, 1998. "Market Structure and Discrimination: The Case of Small Businesses," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(4), pages 771-792, November.
    12. Lina Aldén & Mats Hammarstedt, 2016. "Discrimination in the Credit Market? Access to Financial Capital among Self-employed Immigrants," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(1), pages 3-31, February.
    13. A. Colin Cameron & Douglas L. Miller, 2015. "A Practitioner’s Guide to Cluster-Robust Inference," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(2), pages 317-372.
    14. Huanan Xu, 2018. "First fired, first hired? Business cycles and immigrant labor market transitions," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-36, December.
    15. Neeraj Kaushal & Robert Kaestner & Cordelia Reimers, 2007. "Labor Market Effects of September 11th on Arab and Muslim Residents of the United States," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(2).
    16. Jonathan Guryan & Kerwin Kofi Charles, 2013. "Taste‐based or Statistical Discrimination: The Economics of Discrimination Returns to its Roots," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123(11), pages 417-432, November.
    17. Bo E. Honoré & Luojia Hu, 2023. "The COVID-19 pandemic and Asian American employment," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(5), pages 2053-2083, May.
    18. Robert Fairlie, 2020. "The impact of COVID‐19 on small business owners: Evidence from the first three months after widespread social‐distancing restrictions," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 727-740, October.
    19. Borjas, George J & Bronars, Stephen G, 1989. "Consumer Discrimination and Self-employment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(3), pages 581-605, June.
    20. Pia M. Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2009. "The effects of tougher enforcement on the job prospects of recent Latin American immigrants," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 239-257.
    21. Forsythe, Eliza & Kahn, Lisa B. & Lange, Fabian & Wiczer, David, 2020. "Labor demand in the time of COVID-19: Evidence from vacancy postings and UI claims," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    22. Justin T. Huang & Masha Krupenkin & David Rothschild & Julia Lee Cunningham, 2023. "The cost of anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(5), pages 682-695, May.
    23. Andreas Ferrara & Price Fishback, 2024. "Discrimination, Migration, and Economic Outcomes: Evidence from World War I," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(5), pages 1201-1219, September.
    24. Chunbei Wang, 2019. "Tightened Immigration Policies and the Self‐Employment Dynamics of Mexican Immigrants," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(4), pages 944-977, September.
    25. David G. Blanchflower & Phillip B. Levine & David J. Zimmerman, 2003. "Discrimination in the Small-Business Credit Market," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 930-943, November.
    26. Alicia Robb & Robert Fairlie, 2009. "Determinants of business success: an examination of Asian-owned businesses in the USA," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(4), pages 827-858, October.
    27. Nikolaos Askitas & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2015. "Health and well-being in the great recession," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 36(1), pages 26-47, April.
    28. Thu T. Nguyen & Shaniece Criss & Pallavi Dwivedi & Dina Huang & Jessica Keralis & Erica Hsu & Lynn Phan & Leah H. Nguyen & Isha Yardi & M. Maria Glymour & Amani M. Allen & David H. Chae & Gilbert C. G, 2020. "Exploring U.S. Shifts in Anti-Asian Sentiment with the Emergence of COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-13, September.
    29. Nikolaos Askitas & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2015. "Health and well-being in the great recession," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 36(1), pages 26-47, April.
    30. Timothy Bates & Constance R. Dunham, 1993. "Asian-American Success in Self-Employment," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 7(2), pages 199-214, May.
    31. Alberto Dávila & Marie Mora, 2005. "Changes in the earnings of Arab men in the US between 2000 and 2002," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(4), pages 587-601, November.
    32. Herek, G.M. & Capitanio, J.P., 1993. "Public reactions to AIDS in the United States: A second decade of stigma," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 83(4), pages 574-577.
    33. George J. Borjas, 1986. "The Self-Employment Experience of Immigrants," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 21(4), pages 485-506.
    34. Phelps, Edmund S, 1972. "The Statistical Theory of Racism and Sexism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 659-661, September.
    35. Crossley, Thomas F. & Fisher, Paul & Low, Hamish, 2021. "The heterogeneous and regressive consequences of COVID-19: Evidence from high quality panel data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Borra, Cristina & Wang, Chunbei, 2021. "Asian Discrimination in the Coronavirus Era: Implications for Business Formation and Survival," IZA Discussion Papers 14182, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Rajesh Ramachandran & Christopher Rauh, 2018. "Discrimination without taste: how discrimination can spillover and persist," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 249-274, August.
    3. Daniel Graeber & Alexander S. Kritikos & Johannes Seebauer, 2021. "COVID-19: a crisis of the female self-employed," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 1141-1187, October.
    4. Aldén, Lina & Hammarstedt, Mats & Miao, Chizheng, 2020. "Financial Capital and Immigrant Self-Employment: Evidence from a Swedish Reform," Working Paper Series 1359, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    5. Emma Neuman, 2021. "Performance and job creation among self-employed immigrants and natives in Sweden," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 403-425, January.
    6. Rachel Atkins & Lisa Cook & Robert Seamans, 2022. "Discrimination in lending? Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 843-865, February.
    7. Guangyue Wei, 2024. "The Features and Trends of the Economic Literature Related to COVID-19: A Bibliometric Analysis," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(4), pages 15904-15930, December.
    8. Antonio Chirumbolo & Antonino Callea & Flavio Urbini, 2022. "Living in Liquid Times: The Relationships among Job Insecurity, Life Uncertainty, and Psychosocial Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-20, November.
    9. Charlene Marie Kalenkoski & Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia, 2022. "Impacts of COVID-19 on the self-employed," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 741-768, February.
    10. Robert Fairlie, 2024. "The impacts of COVID‐19 on racial inequality in business earnings," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(1), pages 258-288, January.
    11. Alessandra Casarico & Salvatore Lattanzio, 2022. "The heterogeneous effects of COVID-19 on labor market flows: evidence from administrative data," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(3), pages 537-558, September.
    12. Brunetti, Marianna & Zaiceva, Anzelika, 2023. "Is Self-Employment for Migrants? Evidence from Italy," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1313, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    13. Pekkala Kerr, Sari & Kerr, William, 2020. "Immigrant entrepreneurship in America: Evidence from the survey of business owners 2007 & 2012," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(3).
    14. Louis‐Philippe Beland & Abel Brodeur & Derek Mikola & Taylor Wright, 2022. "The short‐term economic consequences of COVID‐19: Occupation tasks and mental health in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(S1), pages 214-247, February.
    15. Taiyo Fukai & Hidehiko Ichimura & Keisuke Kawata, 2021. "Describing the impacts of COVID-19 on the labor market in Japan until June 2020," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 439-470, July.
    16. Block, Joern & Kritikos, Alexander S. & Priem, Maximilian & Stiel, Caroline, 2022. "Emergency-aid for self-employed in the Covid-19 pandemic: A flash in the pan?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 93, pages 1-41.
    17. Lepage, Louis-Pierre, 2023. "Discrimination and sorting in the real estate market: Evidence from terrorist attacks and mosques," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    18. Abel Brodeur & David Gray & Anik Islam & Suraiya Bhuiyan, 2021. "A literature review of the economics of COVID‐19," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1007-1044, September.
    19. Mariusz Zieliński, 2022. "The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Labor Markets of the Visegrad Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-20, June.
    20. Fausto Hernández-Trillo & Ana Laura Martínez-Gutiérrez, 2022. "The Dark Road to Credit Applications: The Small-Business Case of Mexico," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 1-25, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • J78 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Public Policy (including comparable worth)

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:37:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s00148-024-00985-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.