Jody Agius Vallejo - University of Southern California

‘Robin Hood Banking and Diamonds in the Rough’: Latino Ethnobanks, Federal Regulation, and Restricted Social and Economic Capital

    Date:  10/16/2014 (Thu)

    Time:  3:30pm- 5:00pm

    Location:  Seminar will be held on-site: Gross Hall - 103

    Organizer:  Lisa Keister


Meeting Schedule: Login or email the organizer to schedule a meeting.

    All meetings will be held in the same location as the seminar unless otherwise noted.

    9:30am - 9:15 Breakfast with Martin Ruef at WaDuke

   10:00am - Martin will take Jody to sociology

   10:30am - Eduardo Bonilla-Silva - in sociology

   11:00am - Hang Young Lee - in sociology

   11:30am - Richard Benton - in sociology

   12:00pm - Lunch with Raphael Charron-Chenier and students

    1:15pm - Open for Students

    1:45pm - Angel Harris - in sociology

    2:15pm - Jessi Streib - in sociology (will walk her to Gross)

    2:45pm - Giovanna Merli

    3:15pm - Prepare for seminar

    3:30pm - Seminar Presentation (3:30pm to 5:00pm)

    6:00pm - Dinner - Keister, Smith-Lovin, Yang, and Moody


    Additional Comments:  ABSTRACT: Scholars question whether Latino, especially Mexican American, communities contain social, financial, and ethnic resources that foster mobility and integration. This research examines Latino ethnobanks in Los Angeles that are chartered by Mexican American elites. We find that Mexican American elites charter ethnobanks to make a profit, but they operate them within a “banktivist” model. They view Latino ethnobanks as community capital institutions that have the potential to grow the Latino middle class by providing access to capital for Latino entrepreneurs. However, a history of financial marginalization combines with historically contingent market conditions to create structural barriers to accessing credit, leading bonds of ethnic solidarity between Latino entrepreneurs and banks to dissolve.