Abstract
In this chapter I will focus specifically on the relationship between culture and ethnic middleman entrepreneurship in less-developed countries (LDCs). Ethnically homogeneous middleman groups (EHMGs) have played significant roles in cross cultural trade throughout history.1 Some of these EHMGs, such as the Jews in medieval Europe, have persisted over long periods of time; others, in present-day LDCs—Chinese in Southeast Asia, the Indians in East and Central Africa, the Lebanese in West Africa—have relatively shorter histories. What accounts for the success and persistence of these EHMGs?2 Does culture play a role?
This is a slightly revised version of a chapter originally entitled “Culture and Entrepreneurship in Less Developed Countries: Ethnic Trading Networks as Economic Organizations,” published in Brigitte Berger (Ed.) Culture of Entrepreneurship (pp. 53–72, notes, 217–222). San Francisco, Calf. ICS Press, 1991.
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Acknowledgements
This chapter was originally written for a conference “The Culture of Entrepreneurship,” sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Economic Culture, Boston University, held in Indianapolis, Indiana, January 26–27, 1990. Conference participants come from a variety of disciplines: economics, sociology and political science. I wish to thank Scott H. Gordon and Philip Selznik for helpful discussions on this chapter.
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Landa, J.T. (2016). The Role of Culture and Institutions in Promoting Middleman-Entrepreneurship in Less-Developed Economies. In: Economic Success of Chinese Merchants in Southeast Asia. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54019-6_9
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