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Mexican-American Entrepreneurship

Author

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  • Fairlie Robert

    (University of California, Santa Cruz)

  • Woodruff Christopher M.

    (University of California, San Diego)

Abstract

We conduct a comprehensive analysis of Mexican-American entrepreneurship. We find that low levels of education and wealth explain the entire gap between Mexican immigrants and non-Latino whites in business formation rates; together with language ability, these factors explain nearly the entire gap in business income. Legal status represents an additional barrier for Mexican immigrants, reducing business ownership rates by 0.7 percentage points. Human and financial capital deficiencies limit business ownership and business success among second and third-generation Mexican-Americans to a lesser extent. These findings have implications for the debates over the assimilation of Mexican-Americans in the United States.

Suggested Citation

  • Fairlie Robert & Woodruff Christopher M., 2010. "Mexican-American Entrepreneurship," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-44, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:10:y:2010:i:1:n:10
    DOI: 10.2202/1935-1682.2479
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    Cited by:

    1. Vincenzo Butticè & Diego Useche, 2022. "Crowdfunding to overcome the immigrant entrepreneurs’ liability of outsidership: the role of internal social capital," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1519-1540, December.
    2. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr & Tina Xu, 2017. "Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs: A Review of Recent Literature," NBER Working Papers 24097, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Maude Toussaint-Comeau, 2005. "Do enclaves matter in immigrants’ self-employment decision?," Working Paper Series WP-05-23, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    4. 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.
    5. Katare, Bhagyashree & Ren, Lifeng & Marshall, Maria I., 2017. "Immigrant Farm and Agricultural Entrepreneurship," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258103, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Fairlie, Robert W. & Lofstrom, Magnus, 2013. "Immigration and Entrepreneurship," IZA Discussion Papers 7669, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Richard Fabling, 2018. "Entrepreneurial beginnings: Transitions to self-employment and the creation of jobs," Working Papers 18_12, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    8. Peterson, Robert A. & Crittenden, Victoria L., 2020. "Exploring customer orientation as a marketing strategy of Mexican-American entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 139-148.
    9. Robert W. Fairlie, 2013. "Entrepreneurship, Economic Conditions, and the Great Recession," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 207-231, June.
    10. Catia Batista & Tara McIndoe-Calder & Pedro C. Vicente, 2017. "Return Migration, Self-selection and Entrepreneurship," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(5), pages 797-821, October.
    11. Pia M. Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny & Emily Gutierrez, 2018. "Do State Employment Eligibility Verification Laws Affect Job Turnover?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(2), pages 394-409, April.
    12. Cathy Yang Liu, 2012. "Intrametropolitan Opportunity Structure and the Self-Employment of Asian and Latino Immigrants," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 26(2), pages 178-192, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    entrepreneurship; immigration; Mexican-Americans; self-employment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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