Book excerpt: Self-employment is an option that has been considered a viable economic alternative for minority populations facing barriers to gainful employment in the traditional wage and salary labor market in the U.S. This book examines whether self-employment is an opportunity that will enable the Hispanic householder who resides in the Southwest portion of the United States to earn a living that will keep his/her household above the threshold of poverty. (Ph.D. Dissertation, Ohio State University, 1997; revised with new Introduction and Preface.)