Back to Search
Start Over
Race, trust in government, and self-employment
- Source :
- American Economist. Fall, 2012, Vol. 57 Issue 2, p171, 17 p.
- Publication Year :
- 2012
-
Abstract
- This paper examines the effects of trust in government on the self-employment decision. For black Americans the decision to be self-employed, and the associated returns are likely to be particularly sensitive to trust in the federal government, as the history and political economy of race in the United States required federal government to introduce laws, legislation and institutions to alter the future behavior of whites in their market interactions with blacks. Utilizing General Social Survey Data, I find that among the self-employed, race being black--is a negative determinant of various measures of trust and confidence in federal government. Parameter estimates from a Bivariate Probit estimator of the likelihood of black self-employment and income reveal that both increase with respect to several measures of trust and confidence in the federal government. The results suggest that as the relative growth and performance of black self-employment is trust and confidence sensitive, the underrepresentation of black-owned firms can possibly be explained by the relatively low trust and confidence in the federal government among black Americans. Key Words: Social Capital, Trust, Discrimination, Self-Employment, Black Entrepreneurs JEL Codes: H5, L2, Z13<br />I. Introduction As a form of social capital, trust can be defined as the willingness to permit the future decisions of others to influence your welfare (Sobel 2002). (1) The [...]
- Subjects :
- United States. Supreme Court -- Laws, regulations and rules
United States. Congress -- Laws, regulations and rules
Electioneering -- Laws, regulations and rules
Political campaigns -- Laws, regulations and rules
African Americans -- Laws, regulations and rules
Government regulation
Business, general
Economics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 05694345
- Volume :
- 57
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Gale General OneFile
- Journal :
- American Economist
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsgcl.306753106