IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/soceco/v37y2008i6p2390-2398.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trends in the occupations of eminent black entrepreneurs in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Boyd, Robert L.

Abstract

This study analyzes the occupations of black Americans who have been nationally recognized for their business achievements. Data from renowned encyclopedic sources of biographical information show that occupational niches that arose because of racial segregation and limited opportunities for blacks to participate in the economic mainstream, such as personal services and undertaking, are no longer important routes into the "black business elite." Yet, these data also suggest that, during the 20th century, entertainment, beauty products, and advertising became major pathways into this elite because of an opportunity structure that promoted blacks' participation in these occupational niches yet restricted it in others, notably, in construction and manufacturing.

Suggested Citation

  • Boyd, Robert L., 2008. "Trends in the occupations of eminent black entrepreneurs in the United States," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2390-2398, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:37:y:2008:i:6:p:2390-2398
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W5H-4RV7YDM-2/2/d4fbd3758c8aae25e45264a3f1c8f836
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Timothy Bates, 1985. "Impact of preferential procurement policies on minority-owned businesses," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 51-65, June.
    2. Charles Hirschman, 2005. "Immigration and the American century," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 42(4), pages 595-620, November.
    3. Robert W. Fairlie & Bruce D. Meyer, 2000. "Trends in Self-Employment among White and Black Men during the Twentieth Century," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 35(4), pages 643-669.
    4. Faini,Riccardo C. & de Melo,Jaime & Zimmermann,Klaus (ed.), 1999. "Migration," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521662338.
    5. Bogan, Vicki & Darity Jr., William, 2008. "Culture and entrepreneurship? African American and immigrant self-employment in the United States," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1999-2019, October.
    6. Timothy Bates & Caren Grown, 1991. "Commercial Bank Lending Practices And The Development Of Black-Owned Construction Companies," Working Papers 91-9, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    7. Ingham, John N., 2003. "Building Businesses, Creating Communities: Residential Segregation and the Growth of African American Business in Southern Cities, 1880–1915," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(4), pages 639-665, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fairchild, Gregory B., 2008. "Residential segregation influences on the likelihood of black and white self-employment," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 46-74, January.
    2. Uwaifo Oyelere, Ruth & Belton, Willie, 2009. "Coming to America: Does Immigrant's Home Country Economic Status Impact the Probability of Self-Employment in the U.S.?," IZA Discussion Papers 4178, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Aaron K. Chatterji & Kenneth Y. Chay & Robert W. Fairlie, 2014. "The Impact of City Contracting Set-Asides on Black Self-Employment and Employment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(3), pages 507-561.
    4. Job Boerma & Loukas Karabarbounis, 2023. "Reparations and Persistent Racial Wealth Gaps," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(1), pages 171-221.
    5. Gregory N. Price, 2012. "Race, Trust in Government, and Self-Employment," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 57(2), pages 171-187, November.
    6. Robert W. Fairlie & Alicia M. Robb, 2008. "Race and Entrepreneurial Success: Black-, Asian-, and White-Owned Businesses in the United States," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026206281x, April.
    7. Ruth Oyelere & Willie Belton, 2013. "Black–White gap in self-employment. Does intra-race heterogeneity exist?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 25-39, June.
    8. Uwaifo Oyelere, Ruth & Belton, Willie, 2008. "The Role of Information and Institutions in Understanding the Black-White Gap in Self-Employment," IZA Discussion Papers 3761, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. K. Parvinen & U. Dieckmann & M. Gyllenberg & J.A.J. Metz, 2000. "Evolution of Dispersal in Metapopulations with Local Density Dependence and Demographic Stochasticity," Working Papers ir00035, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
    10. Grant H. Lewis, 2017. "Effects of federal socioeconomic contracting preferences," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 763-783, December.
    11. Robert Singh & Micah Crump, 2007. "Educational Attainment: A Key Factor for Improving the Lagging Rate of Black Entrepreneurship," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 217-229, December.
    12. P. Köllinger & M. Minniti, 2006. "Not for Lack of Trying: American Entrepreneurship in Black and White," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 59-79, August.
    13. Baraulina, Tatjana & Bommes, Michael & El-Cherkeh, Tanja & Daume, Heike & Vadean, Florin P., 2007. "Ägyptische, afghanische und serbische Diasporagemeinden in Deutschland und ihre Beiträge zur Entwicklung ihrer Herkunftsländer," HWWI Research Papers 3-5, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    14. Wolfe, Marcus T. & Patel, Pankaj C., 2017. "Persistent and repetitive: Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder and self-employment," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 8(C), pages 125-137.
    15. Harris, Jared D. & Sapienza, Harry J. & Bowie, Norman E., 2009. "Ethics and entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 407-418, September.
    16. Muhamad Ahsan & Armanu Thoyib & Achmad Sudiro & Nur Khusniyah Indrawati, 2016. "Developing Entrepreneurial Spirit Based on Local Wisdom," International Journal of Social Science Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 4(2), pages 44-65, September.
    17. Claudia Senik & Thierry Verdier, 2011. "Segregation, entrepreneurship and work values: the case of France," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(4), pages 1207-1234, October.
    18. DeLancey, Rebecca Mbuh, 2014. "Entrepreneurship and Immigration: A Study of Africans in the Korean Economy," MPRA Paper 54050, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Massimo Bordignon & Paolo Manasse & Guido Tabellini, 2001. "Optimal Regional Redistribution under Asymmetric Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(3), pages 709-723, June.
    20. S. Irudaya Rajan & B.A. Prakash & K. C. Zachariah, 2010. "Gulf Migration Study: Employment, Wages and Working Conditions of Kerala Emigrants in the United Arab Emirates," Working Papers id:3185, eSocialSciences.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:37:y:2008:i:6:p:2390-2398. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620175 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.