Entrepreneurial Coaching and Migration Intentions: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Senegal

Michel Beine, Arnaud Bourgain, Elisabeth Kempter and Melissa Tornari

No 12486, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of a one-week entrepreneurial coaching program on overall and irregular migration intentions among young adults in the Dakar metropolitan area, Senegal. Using a randomized controlled trial implemented in partnership with an entrepreneurship training center in Dakar, we estimate treatment effects by comparing baseline and follow-up outcomes and address partial compliance using instrumental-variable methods. We find that participation in entrepreneurial coaching reduces emigration intentions by 12–20%, with effects concentrated among individuals connected to the labor market. The program indirectly reduces intended irregular migration by encouraging some individuals to remain in Senegal. We do not find that participation affected the migration mode of those who still intend to migrate. Overall, our findings provide experimental evidence from Senegal that entrepreneurship-based active labor market policies can shape migration aspirations by strengthening local economic attachment among working youth.

Keywords: migration intention; migration deterrence; randomized experiment; entrepreneurship; irregular migration; Sub-saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 O15 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp12486.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12486

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Klaus Wohlrabe ().