Entrepreneurship of the Left-Behind

Corrado Giulietti, Jackline Wahba and Klaus Zimmermann ()

No 7270, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: While there is evidence that return migration promotes entrepreneurship and self-employment of those who migrated, previous studies have not focused on whether migration provides the same benefits to individuals who did not migrate. Using a unique dataset that provides information on both current and return migrants in rural China (RUMiC), we investigate the impact of migration on entrepreneurship among individuals with no migration experience. We explore the self-employment choices of individuals who live in households with return migrants and individuals who live in households that have migrants currently in the city, comparing them with individuals living in non-migrant households. Our methodology allows us to control for the potential endogeneity between the migration and self-employment decisions. The results show that return migration promotes self-employment among household members that have not migrated. However, left-behind individuals are less likely to be self-employed when compared to those living in non-migrant households.

Keywords: rural to urban migration; self-employment; RUMiC dataset (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J61 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2013-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-ent, nep-lab, nep-lma, nep-mig, nep-tra and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Published - published in: Research in Labor Economics, 2013, 37, 65-92

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Chapter: Entrepreneurship of the Left-Behind (2013)
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