We utilize data from the 1990 1% Public Use Microdata Sample to analyze the earnings and occupational status of self-employed Mexican Americans in the ®ve major U.S.-Mexico border metropolitan statistical areas (Brownsville, El Paso, Laredo, and McAllen in Texas, and San Diego, California) relative to those in non-border cities. Our ®ndings suggest that selfemployed Mexican American men earned signi®cantly less in Texas-Mexico border cities than in other areas on average, while the earnings of selfemployed Mexican American women did not signi®cantly vary between border and non-border cities. We also ®nd evidence that these earnings differentials may be related to di¨erences in self-employment selection and occupational choice. As such,``across the board'' policies designed to foster self-employment may not have the desired e¨ect of boosting economic prosperity unless consideration is given to the socioeconomic and demographic composition of the region as well as to the speci®c occupational sector.
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