The Influence of Role Models on Immigrant Self-Employment: A Spatial Analysis for Switzerland

Giuliano Guerra (giuliano.guerra@ti.ch) and Roberto Patuelli (roberto.patuelli@unibo.it)

Working Papers from Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna

Abstract: 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.

JEL-codes: C21 J24 J61 O15 R13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-geo, nep-mig, nep-sbm and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The influence of role models on immigrant self-employment: a spatial analysis for Switzerland (2014)
Working Paper: The Influence of Role Models on Immigrant Self-Employment: A Spatial Analysis for Switzerland (2012)
Working Paper: The Influence of Role Models on Immigrant Self-Employment: A Spatial Analysis for Switzerland (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp745

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