Migration, entrepreneurship and development: A critical review
Wim Naudé, Melissa Siegel & Katrin Marchand
#2015-033
We provide an assessment of the state of scholarly and policy debates on
migrant entrepreneurs in development. They are often described as
super-entrepreneurs who contribute to development through (i) being more
entrepreneurial than natives; (ii) providing remittances that fund
start-ups in their countries of origin and (iii) returning
entrepreneurial skills to their home countries when they re-migrate. We
evaluate these three views and conclude that the empirical evidence to
support the notion of the migrant as a super-entrepreneur is weak. We
further argue that the evidence is less ambiguous on the general
development contribution of migration over and above its contribution
through entrepreneurship. The implication is that removal of
discriminatory barriers against migrants and against migrant
entrepreneurs in labour, consumer and financial markets will promote
development in both sending and receiving countries, not least through
reducing the shares of migrants that are reluctant entrepreneurs.
JEL Classification: J60, L26,O15,F22
Keywords: Migration, Entrepreneurship, Development, Remittances