Entrepreneurship among African Americans: A mechanism of social and economic development

This study examines the impact of demographic characteristics, household economic resources, human capital and social capital factors on self-employment outcomes of African Americans. Self-employment outcomes are the probability of self-employment (self-employed vs. not self-employed), earnings, and occupational segmentation (being in professional vs. non-professional occupations). A fundamental aim of this study is to better understand how African Americans use self-employment as a means of achieving social and economic parity with mainstream America.; Demographic characteristics are race, sex, age, marital status and the presence of children in the household. Household economic resources are household income and other personal income (income other than earnings). Human capital variables are educational attainment and labor force experience. Social capital factors are the presence of working age adults in the household, geographic region and metropolitan area. Social capital refers to social networks and both economic and interpersonal resources that may be garnered and invested as a result of social connections. Geographic region and metropolitan area are used to measure social capital because different social environments offer different social networks and relations to individuals.; Several hypotheses are examined by exploring the association between these factors and self-employment outcomes for African Americans. Data are analyzed from the 1993 through 2000 Current Population Surveys: Annual Individual Level Files (CPS). Human capital and social capital theories are used to explore the determinants of self-employment outcomes.