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

Giuliano Guerra () and Roberto Patuelli ()

Working Paper series from Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis

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.

Keywords: immigrants; self-employment; role models; Switzerland; spatial lag (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 J24 J61 O15 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-01, Revised 2012-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-geo, nep-mig and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published in International Journal of Manpower, 35(1/2):187-215, 2014

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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 (2011)
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:rim:rimwps:29_10

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