ABSTRACT
Rotating credit associations (RCAs) are informal social groups whose participants agree to make periodic financial contributions to a fund which is given in whole or in part to each contributor in rotation. Familiar in many developing countries, and a frequent subject of anthropological inquiry, RCAs have attracted sociological attention for two reasons. First, RCAs facilitate the entrepreneurship of immigrant and ethnic minorities in developed market economies, thus becoming a factor in social mobility. Second, depending on naked social trust, RCAs are theoretically interesting economic organizations. Reviewing research on Korean RCAs in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the United States, Light Ivan, professor of department of sociology, University of California, and Bonacich reported that kye was a frequent practice among Korean Americans. Kyes were so widespread in Los Angeles Korean-American community that Korean banks developed kye- like savings plans in order to compete with them. They completed a telephone survey of Korean entrepreneurs listed in Korean yellow pages directory of Los Angeles.
