| Abstract: | This research adds to knowledge about ethnic entrepreneurship in U.S. cities by testing the hypothesis that, in the late-19th century, levels of retail enterprise of entrepreneurial ethnic groups (e.g., Russian and Polish Jews) were highest in the most remote locations of the nation's urban-regional hierarchy. This hypothesis is based on the proposition that (1) "gateway cities" in the hinterlands of a society are bustling centers of commerce that offer unusually good prospects for retail enterprise, and (2) ethnic groups that are richly endowed with entrepreneurial resources can most fully exploit the advantages of such locations. An analysis of census data, guided by the "interactionist approach" to the study of entrepreneurship, supports this hypothesis and advances the literature on the ethnic economy by suggesting that a city's position in an urban-regional hierarchy (i.e., core vs. peripheral location) is a key element of the opportunity structure for ethnic entrepreneurship in that city. |
