IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/iza/izawol/journly2014n85.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Immigrants and entrepreneurship

Author

Listed:
  • Magnus Lofstrom

    (Public Policy Institute of California, USA, and IZA, Germany)

Abstract

Immigrants are widely perceived to be highly entrepreneurial, contributing to economic growth and innovation, and self-employment is often viewed as a means of enhancing labor market integration and success among immigrants. Accordingly, many countries have established special visas and entry requirements to attract immigrant entrepreneurs. Research supports some of these stances, but expectations may be too high. There is no strong evidence that self-employment is an effective tool of upward economic mobility among low-skilled immigrants. More broadly prioritizing high-skilled immigrants may prove to be more successful than focusing on entrepreneurship.

Suggested Citation

  • Magnus Lofstrom, 2014. "Immigrants and entrepreneurship," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-85, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:y:2014:n:85
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://wol.iza.org/articles/immigrants-and-entrepreneurship-1.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://wol.iza.org/articles/immigrants-and-entrepreneurship
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jennifer Hunt & Marjolaine Gauthier-Loiselle, 2010. "How Much Does Immigration Boost Innovation?," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 31-56, April.
    2. Ken Clark & Stephen Drinkwater, 2010. "Patterns of ethnic self-employment in time and space: evidence from British Census microdata," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 323-338, April.
    3. Robert W. Fairlie & Bruce D. Meyer, 2003. "The Effect of Immigration on Native Self-Employment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(3), pages 619-650, July.
    4. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr, 2016. "Immigrant Entrepreneurship," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Entrepreneurial Businesses: Current Knowledge and Challenges, pages 187-249, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Pekkala Kerr, Sari & Kerr, William, 2020. "Immigrant entrepreneurship in America: Evidence from the survey of business owners 2007 & 2012," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(3).
    6. William R. Kerr & William F. Lincoln, 2010. "The Supply Side of Innovation: H-1B Visa Reforms and U.S. Ethnic Invention," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(3), pages 473-508, July.
    7. Magnus Lofstrom, 2011. "Low-skilled immigrant entrepreneurship," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 25-44, March.
    8. Amelie Constant & Klaus Zimmermann, 2006. "The Making of Entrepreneurs in Germany: Are Native Men and Immigrants Alike?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 279-300, April.
    9. Magnus Lofstrom, 2002. "Labor market assimilation and the self-employment decision of immigrant entrepreneurs," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(1), pages 83-114.
    10. Lofstrom, Magnus & Wang, Chunbei, 2006. "Hispanic Self-Employment: A Dynamic Analysis of Business Ownership," IZA Discussion Papers 2101, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Magnus Lofstrom, 2013. "Does self-employment increase the economic well-being of low-skilled workers?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 933-952, May.
    12. David M. Hart & Zoltán J. Ács, 2015. "High-Tech Immigrant Entrepreneurship in the United States," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 31, pages 604-617, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Robert W. Fairlie & Julie Zissimopoulos & Harry Krashinsky, 2010. "The International Asian Business Success Story? A Comparison of Chinese, Indian and Other Asian Businesses in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom," NBER Chapters, in: International Differences in Entrepreneurship, pages 179-208, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2016_033 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jan Wiers & Didier Chabaud, 2022. "Bibliometric analysis of immigrant entrepreneurship research 2009–2019," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 12(1), pages 441-464, December.
    2. Hausmann, Ricardo & Nedelkoska, Ljubica, 2018. "Welcome home in a crisis: Effects of return migration on the non-migrants' wages and employment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 101-132.
    3. Nick Drydakis, 2022. "Improving Entrepreneurs’ Digital Skills and Firms’ Digital Competencies through Business Apps Training: A Study of Small Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-23, April.
    4. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr, 2016. "Immigrant Entrepreneurship," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Entrepreneurial Businesses: Current Knowledge and Challenges, pages 187-249, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Robert Fairlie, 2020. "The impact of COVID‐19 on small business owners: Evidence from the first three months after widespread social‐distancing restrictions," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 727-740, October.
    6. Steven A. Brieger & Michael M. Gielnik, 2021. "Understanding the gender gap in immigrant entrepreneurship: a multi-country study of immigrants’ embeddedness in economic, social, and institutional contexts," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1007-1031, February.
    7. Ana Cuadros & Juan Carlos Cuestas & Joan Martín-Montaner, 2021. "Self-employment convergence in Europe: The role of migration," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(4), pages 1-14, April.
    8. Lee, Jun Yeong & Winters, John V., 2021. "Too Cold to Venture There? January Temperature and Immigrant Self-Employment across the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 14941, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Magnus Klofsten & Ellen MacEachen & Christian Ståhl, 2021. "New and small firms in a modern working life: how do we make entrepreneurship healthy?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 755-763, August.
    10. Johan Klaesson & Özge Öner, 2021. "Ethnic enclaves and segregation—self-employment and employment patterns among forced migrants," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 985-1006, February.
    11. Hausmann, Ricardo & Nedelkoska, Ljubica, 2017. "Welcome Home in a Crisis: Effects of Return Migration on the Non-Migrants’ Wages and Employment," Working Paper Series rwp17-015, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    12. Mengdie Ruan & Angathevar Baskaran & Shanshan Zhou, 2022. "Mainland Chinese Immigrant-owned SMEs in Malaysia: Case Studies," Millennial Asia, , vol. 13(1), pages 5-34, April.
    13. Dheer, Ratan J.S. & Lenartowicz, Tomasz, 2020. "Effect of generational status on immigrants’ intentions to start new ventures: The role of cognitions," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(3).
    14. Monica Roman & Dorel Mihai Paraschiv, 2019. "The Young Entrepreneurs of Europe and the Role of International Mobility," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 21(S13), pages 763-763, November.
    15. Emilie Sophie Le Caous & Fenghueih Huarng, 2021. "Economic Complexity and Human Development: Moderated by Logistics and International Migration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-23, February.
    16. Öner, Özge & Klaesson, Johan, 2018. "Ethnic Enclaves and Labor Market Outcomes – What Matters Most: Neighborhood, City or Region?," Working Paper Series 1251, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ghimire Keshar M., 2021. "Supply of immigrant entrepreneurs and native entrepreneurship," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-42, January.
    2. Pekkala Kerr, Sari & Kerr, William, 2020. "Immigrant entrepreneurship in America: Evidence from the survey of business owners 2007 & 2012," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(3).
    3. Robert W. Fairlie, 2013. "Minority and immigrant entrepreneurs: access to financial capital," Chapters, in: Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 8, pages 153-175, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Fairlie, Robert W. & Lofstrom, Magnus, 2013. "Immigration and Entrepreneurship," IZA Discussion Papers 7669, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr, 2021. "Whose Job Is It Anyway? Coethnic Hiring in New US Ventures," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 86-127.
    6. Cai, Zhengyu & Winters, John V., 2017. "Self-employment differentials among foreign-born STEM and non-STEM workers," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 371-384.
    7. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr, 2016. "Immigrant Entrepreneurship," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Entrepreneurial Businesses: Current Knowledge and Challenges, pages 187-249, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr, 2016. "Immigrant Entrepreneurship," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Entrepreneurial Businesses: Current Knowledge and Challenges, pages 187-249, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2016_033 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. J. David Brown & John S. Earle & Mee Jung Kim & Kyung Min Lee, 2019. "Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Innovation in the US High-Tech Sector," NBER Chapters, in: The Roles of Immigrants and Foreign Students in US Science, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, pages 149-171, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Chengguang Li & Rodrigo Isidor & Luis Alfonso Dau & Rudy Kabst, 2018. "The More the Merrier? Immigrant Share and Entrepreneurial Activities," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 42(5), pages 698-733, September.
    12. Green, David A. & Liu, Huju & Ostrovsky, Yuri & Picot, Garnett, 2023. "Are Immigrants Particularly Entrepreneurial? Policy Lessons from a Selective Immigration System," IZA Discussion Papers 16515, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Marcus H. Böhme & Sarah Kups, 2017. "The economic effects of labour immigration in developing countries: A literature review," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 335, OECD Publishing.
    14. Vincenzo Butticè & Diego Useche, 2022. "Crowdfunding to overcome the immigrant entrepreneurs’ liability of outsidership: the role of internal social capital," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1519-1540, December.
    15. Maribel Guerrero & Vesna Mandakovic & Mauricio Apablaza & Veronica Arriagada, 2021. "Are migrants in/from emerging economies more entrepreneurial than natives?," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 527-548, June.
    16. Emma Neuman, 2021. "Performance and job creation among self-employed immigrants and natives in Sweden," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 403-425, January.
    17. Amornsiripanitch, Natee & Gompers, Paul A. & Hu, George & Vasudevan, Kaushik, 2023. "Getting schooled: Universities and VC-backed immigrant entrepreneurs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(7).
    18. Sameeksha Desai & Wim Naudé & Nora Stel, 2021. "Refugee entrepreneurship: context and directions for future research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 933-945, February.
    19. Baum, Christopher F & Dastory, Linda & Lööf, Hans & Stephan, Andreas, 2018. "Migrant STEM Entrepreneurs," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 474, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    20. Ajzenman, Nicolás & Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Guriev, Sergei, 2022. "Exposure to transit migration: Public attitudes and entrepreneurship," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    21. Dr Max Nathan, 2013. "The wider economic impacts of high-skilled migrants: a survey of the literature," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 413, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    entrepreneurship; self-employment; innovation; immigrants; immigration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:y:2014:n:85. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.