Chapter 9 Ethnic Competition and Specialization
ISBN: 978-0-85724-153-5, eISBN: 978-0-85724-154-2
Publication date: 31 December 2010
Abstract
Are ethnic specialization and thus a downward sloping labor demand curve fundamental features of labor market competition between ethnic groups? In a general equilibrium model, this chapter argues that spillover effects in skill acquisition and social distances between ethnic groups engender equilibrium regimes of skill acquisition that differ in their implications for ethnic specialization. Specifically, fundamental relationships through which relative group sizes determine whether ethnic specialization arises and in what degree are established. Thus, this chapter theoretically justifies a downward sloping labor demand curve and explains why some ethnic groups earn more than others, ethnic minorities underperforming or outperforming majorities.
Keywords
Citation
Kahanec, M. (2010), "Chapter 9 Ethnic Competition and Specialization", Epstein, G.S. and Gang, I.N. (Ed.) Migration and Culture (Frontiers of Economics and Globalization, Vol. 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 205-229. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1574-8715(2010)0000008015
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited