The Creation of an Ethnic Economy: Indochinese Business Expansion in Saint Paul* David H. Kaplan Department of Geography, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242-0001 Abstract: Research on ethnic diversity in U.S.cities hasfocused on howthe growth of a particular population within a defined, andoften segregated, geographic area fosters the emergence of an ethnically oriented business andlabor market. While several studies havelooked at ethniceconomies in U.S. cities, comparatively little attention has been paid to howwell these examples meet the definition of ethnic enclave economies, a special type of ethnic economy that may afford opportunities equal to thatof the mainstream economy. In Saint Paul, Minnesota, refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laoshave established a set of businesses withina geo- graphically specific section of the city. Datafrom the 1990 U.S. census anda spe- cial dataset thatrecords businesses by location, type, and size for 1981 and 1991 areused to assess howwell this emerging economy satisfies certain criteria for an ethnic enclave economy and to gauge the level of resources enjoyed by the Indochinese community. In this paper I concludethat the Indochinese ethnic economy in Saint Paulsatisfies some aspects of the ethnicenclave economy and thatthis has been accomplished with a minimum of individual financial or educa- tional resources. Atthe same time, the Indochinese economy has yet to develop the broad employment opportunities, sectoral diversity, andbusiness-to-business link- ages thatwould position it as a true alternative to the mainstream economy. This maychange as the Indochinese in Saint Paul begin to deepen and broaden their economic niche. Key words: ethnic economy, enclave, immigrants, Southeast Asians, Indochinese, Hmong, entrepreneurship. The assimilation process ordinarily moves an ethnic group toward both func- tional integration and socioeconomic parity with the majority population. Functional integration into the broader society pro- vides the master key opening up positions to those endowed with the necessary skill and a little bit of luck. These opportunities in turn unlock decent housing in a nice neighborhood, material possessions, and financial security. Within U.S. society, his- torians and social scientists have long * This paper wouldnot have been possible without the assistance of Mao Vang andKent Treichel. Karen Andrews helped produce Figure 2. I am also grateful to funding provid- ed by the University of St. Thomasand the Association of American Geographers. chronicled the occupational mobility of various ethnic groups, often of European descent, while trying to comprehend the inability of some groups, most notably African Americans, to assimilate fully (Thernstrom 1973; Lieberson 1980; Archdeacon 1983; Hershberg et al. 1979). Within the last couple of decades, alter- natives to this general model of economic assimilation have been broached (Bonacich 1973; Wilson and Portes 1980; Light 1984). Ethnic groups may possess certain advan- tages, whether cultural or situational, that provide them with a distinct economic niche. Or, given sufficient size, occupation- al diversity, and business resources, some ethnic groups might create their own economies. In a few documented cases, researchers argue that this ethnic subecon- omy sidesteps the mainstream economy for 214 This content downloaded from 131.123.230.87 on Tue, 23 Dec 2014 11:45:45 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions