Mexican Entrepreneurship: A Comparison of Self-Employment in Mexico and the United States / Robert Fairlie, Christopher Woodruff.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fairlie, Robert.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Woodruff, Christopher.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w11527.

NBER working paper series no. w11527

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Mexican Entrepreneurship

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2005.

Summary:

Nearly a quarter of Mexico's workforce is self employed. But in the U.S. rates of self employment among Mexican Americans are only 6 percent, about half the rate among non-Latino whites. Using data from the Mexican and U.S. population census, we show that neither industrial composition nor differences in the age and education of Mexican born populations residing in Mexico and the U.S. accounts for the differences in the self employment rates in the two countries. Within the U.S., however, the data show self employment rates are much higher in ethnic enclaves. In PUMAS with a high percentage of residents of Latino origin, rates of self employment are comparable to rates among non-Latino whites. The data also indicate that the lack of English language ability and the lack of legal status among Mexican American immigrants helps account for their lower rates of self employment.

Notes:

Print version record

August 2005.