21/09/2016: Migration Seminar “Varieties of capitalism, variation in immigrant self-employment” by Magda Ulceluse
Varieties of capitalism, variation in immigrant self-employment
by Magda Ulceluse (Central European University)
MGSoG/UNU-MERIT Migration Seminar in collaboration with Maastricht Centre for Citizenship, Migration and Development (MACIMIDE)
Abstract: Existing theories of immigrant self-employment do not fully account for the variation in levels and types of self-employment across countries. The paper argues that variation in the socio-economic regime has contributed to both quantitative and qualitative variation in immigrant self-employment rates across the EU-15 countries, over recent decades. It focuses on three dimensions that are particularly salient to migrants’ economic activities: immigration regulation and control, labour market regulations and the provision of social services. Immigration policies determine the channel that migrants can use to enter a country, which in turn define and limit the economic activities they can pursue, market regulations create the framework within which migrants obtain or create jobs, while social benefits affect the marginal utility of work for those that can benefit. Together, they provide opportunities and constraints which shape immigrants’ propensity to become self-employed…