Internal ethnicity refers to ethnic subgroups within an immigrant grou
p. An 'ethnic economy' includes the self-employed and their co-ethnic
workers. Although most research treats the boundaries of 'ethnic econo
my' and its variant, the 'ethnic enclave economy', as though they were
coterminous with those of national-origin immigrant groups, this assu
mption is unreliable. Ethnic boundaries need not coincide with those o
f nationality origin when internal ethnicity exists. To test this hypo
thesis, we utilize survey data collected from a sample of Iranians in
Los Angeles. Because this national-origin immigrant group contains fou
r ethno-religious subgroups (Armenians, Bahais, Jews and Muslims), the
Iranians in Los Angeles operated four distinctive ethnic economies, n
ot one. Each ethno-religious subgroup had its own ethnic economy, and
these separate economies were only weakly tied to an encompassing Iran
ian ethnic economy.