(FORTUNE Magazine) – Americans like to think of themselves as self-starters. Just how entrepreneurial are we? According to economists Robert W. Fairlie of the University of California at Santa Cruz and Bruce D. Meyer of Northwestern, in 1990 11% of men and 6% of women in the U.S. were self-employed. But entrepreneurship is spread unevenly among ethnic and racial groups. Even after controlling for factors like age and education, Fairlie and Meyer found widely varying self-employment rates for 61 ethnic categories. On the high side for men are Israelis and Koreans, both of whom have self- employment rates near 30%. Among women, Koreans top the list at 19%, followed by Russians, with 12%. The groups with the lowest rates of self- employment are Laotian and Puerto Rican men, at under 4%. African Americans and black Central Americans have the lowest female rates, at 2%. The differences are striking even within broad racial groups. For example, among Asians, Korean men are almost nine times as likely to be self-employed as Laotian men. National Federation of Independent Business economist William Dennis says the primary impediment to entrepreneurship for ethnic groups on the low end of the scale is a lack of community role models. "It's history perpetuating itself," he says. "We need to make people aware that this is an avenue available to everyone, not just someone else." --J.A.