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The influence of role models on immigrant self-employment : a spatial analysis for Switzerland

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    2010

24 p.

Immigrants
self-employment
role models
Switzerland
spatial lag
English Theoretical and empirical research suggests a connection between the presence of role models and the emergence of entrepreneurs. Existing entrepreneurs may act as role models for self-employment candidates by providing successful examples. By explicitly considering the self- employment rates of the natives, which may influence locally the decisions of immigrants towards entrepreneurship, we develop a simple model that explains immigrant self-employment rates for a sample of 2,490 Swiss municipalities. In addition, we accommodate for the presence of spatial spillovers in the distribution of rates, and test a spatial autoregressive model which takes into account the average self-employment rates of immigrants living in nearby municipalities. Our evidence shows a significant (positive) effect of such spatial network effects, which are characterized by a quick distance decay, suggesting spatial spillovers at the household and social network level. Additionally, we show that local conditions and immigrant pool characteristics differ, with respect to self-employment choices, when examining separately urban and rural contexts.
Language
  • English
Classification
Economics
License
License undefined
Open access status
green
Identifiers
  • RERO DOC 21015
  • ARK ark:/12658/srd1318352
Persistent URL
https://n2t.net/ark:/12658/srd1318352
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