Individual characteristics vs. city structural characteristics: explaining self-employment differences among Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos in the United States

Abstract

Using data from the 1990 Census Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS), this paper tests several theories explaining differing rates of self-employment for Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino. The primary purpose is to separate out the effects of individual characteristics versus structural effects by city. The primary conclusions reached are: (1) differences in individual characteristics explain much of the differences in city self-employment rates for Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos and (2) theories explaining high rates of ethnic self-employment based on ethnic resources, disadvantage/discrimination, differences in self-employment earnings and wage earnings are tested but none universally explain much of the differences in city self-employment rates for any of the three groups.