Author Abstract
Immigrant groups often exhibit high levels of entrepreneurship that are concentrated in a narrow set of occupations (e.g., Vietnamese nail care salons, Punjabi Indian convenience stores). This paper develops a theory where non-work social relationships reduce the costs for members of an ethnic group for acquiring sector-specific skills for entrepreneurship in the occupations where their group concentrates. The scale economies generated by isolated and networked social interactions can result in favorable economic outcomes and self-employment conditions for these groups. This setting contrasts with classic market-based discrimination in important ways
Paper Information
- Full Working Paper Text
- Working Paper Publication Date: October 2015
- HBS Working Paper Number: 16-042
- Faculty Unit(s): Entrepreneurial Management