Are Asians, Latinos in L.A. faring the economic downturn better?

Joel Kotkin, the guru of L.A. economics, says the recession isn't hitting some ethnic enclaves in Southern California so hard. He cites wealthy Indian, Chinese and Korean communities but also less affluent Latinos as an example of area groups bucking the downturn. Why? It's partly because the groups have access to overseas money and partly because people in these enclaves are more likely to have cash on hand. An excerpt from his essay:

Dr. Alethea Hsu has a strange-seeming prescription for terrible times: She is opening a new shopping center on Saturday. In addition, more amazingly, the 114,000 square foot Irvine, Calif., retail complex, the third for the Taiwan native's Diamond Development Group, is just about fully leased. How can this be in the midst of a consumer crack-up, with credit card defaults and big players like General Growth struggling for their existence? The answer is simple: Hsu's mostly Asian customers –- Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese –- still have cash. "These are people who have savings and money to spend," she explains. "Asians in Orange County are mostly professionals and don't have the subprime business." To Hsu, culture explains the growing divergence between ethnic markets and that of the general population. Asians, she notes, whether in their native lands or here in California, tend to be big savers. In tough times, they still have the cash to buy goods, while others stay home or go way down-market.

By contrast, The Times' David Pierson and Roger Vincent found that the shopping mall scene in the San Gabriel Valley and beyond is hurting.

-- Shelby Grad

Photo: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[D]

Why does the Times and other papers keep on going back to this hack? he is clearly senile and hasn't written anything of substance, ever. His views are unfounded, his hatred for cities is obvious and he is an idiot. Stop using him. The credibility of the LA Times goes down every time this guy is quoted or written about.