Culture and entrepreneurship? African American and immigrant self-employment in the United States

This paper analyzes the evolution of African American entrepreneurship by comparing the patterns of development of African American entrepreneurship and immigrant entrepreneurship. Whereas most literature focuses on African American culture as the reason for limited entrepreneurial success compared to certain immigrant groups, this paper examines how social, economic, and political forces have adversely influenced the development of Black entrepreneurship compared to various immigrant groups. Using 90 years of census data, we also find empirical support consistent with our assertion that many immigrants have resources (not available to native non-Whites) that facilitate entrepreneurship. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. JEL classification: M13; N0