Entrepreneurship of the Left-Behind

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. While there is evidence that return migration promotes entrepreneurship and selfemployment of those who migrated, previous studies have not focused on whether migration provides the same benefits to individuals who did not migrate. Using a unique dataset that provides information on both current and return migrants in rural China (RUMiC), we investigate the impact of migration on entrepreneurship among individuals with no migration experience. We explore the self-employment choices of individuals who live in households with return migrants and individuals who live in households that have migrants currently in the city, comparing them with individuals living in non-migrant households. Our methodology allows us to control for the potential endogeneity between the migration and self-employment decisions. The results show that return migration promotes self-employment among household members that have not migrated. However, left-behind individuals are less likely to be self-employed when compared to those living in non-migrant households.JEL Classification: J23, J61, O15

Remittances and relative concerns in rural China

“…For example, Biavaschi et al (2015) found that being left-behind triggers a stronger influence of older siblings on the schooling performance of the youngest. On the other hand, Giulietti et al (2013) found that left-behind individuals are less likely to be selfemployed when compared to return migrants and individuals who live in non-migrant households. Since these factors are already controlled for in the regression, we interpret the negative estimate as the psychological cost associated with the migrant's absence (albeit often temporary).…”

Migration, entrepreneurship and development: critical questions

“…Also for China, Giulietti et al (2013) find that not only return migrants are more likely than non-migrants to start up a business but also they promote entrepreneurship amongst family members who did not migrate, suggesting that knowledge and experience may be skills required in China's rural areas to stimulate entrepreneurship. Wahba and Zenou (2012), using migration data from Egypt, also find that experience, savings and duration abroad matter and that the loss of social capital due to being out of the country does not outweigh the benefits of finance and experiences in starting up a firm.…”

Sigles et abréviations

“…De même, les migrants de retour peuvent utiliser les économies qu'ils ont accumulées à l'étranger pour se mettre à leur compte. De plus en plus d'études montrent que les migrants de retour et les membres de leur ménage ont tendance à être des travailleurs indépendants ou à créer leur propre entreprise (Ammassari, 2004 ;Giulietti et al, 2013).…”