Examines the advantages that immigrant and ethnic minority groups have in small business in the United States. In twentieth-century America, the concentration of foreign-born ethnic and minority groups involved in small business was significantly greater than disadvantaged native minorities....

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) take-up tends to increase during recessions. We exploit variation across immigrant groups in the non-pecuniary costs of participating in SSDI to examine the role that costs play in applicant decisions across the business cycle. We show that immigrants...