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Return Migration And Entrepreneurship In Ghana And Côte D’Ivoire: The Role Of Capital Transfers

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  • RICHARD BLACK
  • ADRIANA CASTALDO

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between international migration and entrepreneurship, drawing on data on around 300 return migrants to two West African states, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. The paper reviews existing evidence on the role of entrepreneurship and small firm formation in promoting development in Sub‐Saharan Africa, before setting out a model of factors that influence whether migrants contribute to entrepreneurial activity by registering a business after their return. Factors tested for their association with entrepreneurship include a range of individual characteristics, duration of stay and reasons for return, and the acquisition of financial, human and social capital while abroad. The analysis suggests that work experience abroad is the most significant predictor of entrepreneurial activity among the return migrants interviewed, although savings accumulated while abroad, reasons for return and the frequency of visits home while abroad are also significant factors.

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  • Richard Black & Adriana Castaldo, 2009. "Return Migration And Entrepreneurship In Ghana And Côte D’Ivoire: The Role Of Capital Transfers," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 100(1), pages 44-58, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:tvecsg:v:100:y:2009:i:1:p:44-58
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9663.2009.00504.x
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    1. Zana Vathi & Russell King & Barak Kalir, 2023. "Editorial Introduction: The Shifting Geopolitics of Return Migration and Reintegration," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 369-385, March.
    2. Jamal Bouoiyour & Amal Miftah, 2012. "Le retour des migrants marocains dans leur pays d'origine, quand ? Dans quelles circonstances ?," Working Papers hal-01880345, HAL.
    3. Khaled Sultan Alhosani & Kamarul Bahari Yaakub, 2021. "The Relationship Between Total Quality Management Practices and Secondary School Performance with Mediating Effect of Organizational Culture in Abu Dhabi: Structural Equation Modeling Approach," European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 6, July -Dec.
    4. Ester Serra-Mingot & Markus Rudolf, 2023. "On the Same Wavelength? Differing Geopolitical Positionalities and Voluntary Return and Reintegration in Ghana," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 485-502, March.
    5. Elida Cena & Derek Heim, 2022. "A Regretful Journey Home: Albanian Return Migration in the Wake of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 499-518, June.

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