The authors use survey data to measure the use of formal and informal sources of financing by owners of small businesses in two ethnic neighborhoods. The authors find substantial differences across ethnic groups in the amount of start-up funding obtained and in the use of trade credit.

This article documents not only the actual use of banks, but also the widespread use of alternative financing mechanisms, using data from a survey of households and businesses in a Hispanic neighborhood of Chicago.

The effect of exports on occupational demand is estimated. The notions of absorption and dissipating industries are introduced. Absorption industries form economic clusters that provide a mechanism to help explain the nature of regional changes as a result of the changes in exports

The metropolitan economy of Chicago has experienced a significant transformation in its economic structure over the past twenty years. Using a method for extraction of input–output tables that has been described elsewhere, it has been possible to produce an economic photograph of the Chicago...