Portes and Zhou (1996) present evidence to suggest that self-employment may impact the economic fortunes of immigrant groups by generating a relatively large number of very high earners. The present analysis seeks to extend and clarify the very high earner thesis using 1990 U.S. census data. Findings across 41 immigrant samples are generally consistent with expectations. However, in the majority of cases the effect of self-employment is due in whole or substantial part to the earnings of professional specialists. Findings are consistent with a very high earner model of nonprofessional specialist self-employment in eleven immigrant subsamples.
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