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Since Piore’s (1979) seminal work on ethnic economies, there has been significant development in our understanding of the grouping process of immigrants and co-ethnics into economic, social, and political units, and the behavior of immigrant entrepreneurs within these groups. During the past two decades a number of sociologists have contributed several important concepts to the study of ethnic entrepreneurship such as social capital (e.g. Portes, 1998; Portes & Landolt, 1996, 2000), social embeddedness and network ties (e.g. Kloosterman & Rath, 2001; Portes & Sensenbrenner, 1993; Rath, 2002), and fine tuning the definitional distinctions between levels of co-ethnic cohesiveness, such as ethnic neighborhoods, ethnic economies, and ethnic enclaves (e.g. Light & Gold, 2000; Waldinger, 1982; Waldinger et al., 1990). More recently, business theorists have started to examine the problem of ethnic economic activity, incorporating more economic and entrepreneurship strategy concepts such as resource dependency (Greene, 1997), buyer-supplier relationships (Galbraith et al., 2003), access to financing (Smallbone et al., 2002), and differential marketing systems (Iyer & Shapiro, 1999). What appears to be sometimes lacking in modern discussions of ethnic economies and entrepreneurial behavior, however, is an underlying and unifying theoretical paradigm.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and test the relationship and interaction between “intrinsic” religiosity, entrepreneurial activity, and economic growth.

The paper selects 23 countries that are predominately Christian and examine the connection between country‐wide religious orientation, entrepreneurial activity, and economic growth. It specifically examines “intrinsic” religiosity, and defines entrepreneurial activity as either total start‐up entrepreneurial activity or opportunity‐based entrepreneurial activity. It is hypothesized that there is a direct relationship between religious attitudes and both economic growth and entrepreneurial activity, with entrepreneurial activity also acting as an intervening variable. The empirical relationship between “intrinsic” religiosity, entrepreneurial activity, and economic growth is then examined.

The findings suggest that while “intrinsic” religiosity is positively related to economic growth, the key relationship may be between “intrinsic” religiosity and entrepreneurial activity, with entrepreneurial activity then resulting in economic growth.

By examining the diverse literatures of economic development, entrepreneurship, theology, and the psychology of religion, this paper offers a unique analysis of religious attitudes and their impact on entrepreneurial activity and economic growth. Both the conceptual discussion and the empirical results extend previous studies examining cultural approaches to understanding economic growth.

The first paper by Hernando de Soto is titled, “Trust, Institutions and Entrepreneurship.” Hernando de Soto certainly needs no introduction. As the author of two best-selling books, The Other Path and The Mystery of Capital, and the founder of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Peru, Hernando de Soto has made his mark on examining critical issues related to economic development among poor people. In 1999, Time magazine chose Hernando de Soto as one of the five leading Latin American innovators of the century. Forbes magazine highlighted him as one of 15 innovators “who will re-invent your future.” The Economist magazine identified his Institute for Liberty and Democracy as one of the top two think tanks in the world. The essay in this volume, based upon a speech given at the University of North Carolina on October 26, 2004, examines the important relationships between institutions, trust, property rights, and the ability of entrepreneurs to participate in economic growth and development. This stimulating essay sets a foundation for much of what is discussed in this volume.

The purpose of this paper is to test the proposition that religious orientation has a measurable affect on individuals' definitions of market justice and attitudes toward self‐employment.

The paper distinguishes between religious orientation and spirituality and defines religious orientation to be either intrinsic or extrinsic. It then examines the modern concept of market justice and hypothesizes that individuals with intrinsic religiosity will have negative opinions of the justice of market exchange while those with extrinsic religiosity will have positive opinions. It is expected that individuals that own their own business or have positive views of self‐employment will have positive opinions of the justice of market exchange. Finally, the paper hypothesizes that intrinsic religiosity will lead to higher levels of entrepreneurial behavior once opinion about market justice has been controlled for. The survey instrument was administered to 141 undergraduate business students.

Cluster analysis revealed two clusters; cluster membership was used as a binary dependent variable indicating positive or negative opinions of market justice. The intrinsic religiosity hypothesis is statistically supported. The self‐employment hypothesis is only partly supported. The entrepreneurial behavior hypothesis is also statistically supported.

This paper examines the concepts of religious orientation and attitudes toward market justice and entrepreneurship. It offers an empirical analysis of value‐based attitudes and their impact on entrepreneurial activity, and the importance of religious attitudes on market behaviors.

Leading off the book, and the first paper in this section, is, “The Ethnic Ownership Economy” by Ivan Light. This survey paper hardly needs an introduction, because the author is one of the foremost scholars in the field of ethnic economics and entrepreneurship. Ivan Light can be argued to be one of the founders of fields concerned with ethnicity on the strength of his groundbreaking early study Ethnic Enterprise in America (1972). Over the subsequent years he has remained on the cutting edge of research, and the survey paper included here clearly reflects that fact. In this paper, the author reviews and summarizes a significant body of sociological research concerning ethnic economies. He offers three challenges for future research: the first is to examine how the ethnic or immigrant entrepreneurs differ from non-immigrant entrepreneurs, the second is to investigate how immigrants tend to differ in the bundle of resources when compared to their indigenous counterparts, and the third is to study how in multi-ethnic societies non-immigrant entrepreneurs and immigrant/ethnic minority entrepreneurs operate out of social networks with minimal overlap.

Early on it was recognized that this broad concept of entrepreneurship could be used to understand and improve the condition of particular disadvantaged populations; the so-called “under-developed” communities and regions (e.g. Danson, 1995). Only recently, however, has the notion been applied by scholars of entrepreneurship to a particular sector within this category, to the indigenous populations of the world.