5 - Migrants’ Work, Entrepreneurship and Economic Integration

Summary

Introduction

Although economic issues have not been the centrepiece of migration research in the last decades, quite an amount of scientific material, literature and empirical data from different theoretical starting points has been accumulated dealing with topics of economic integration. The aim of this chapter is to provide a ‘state of the art’ by sifting the milestones of the existing literature focusing on economic approaches, and to structure them in a way that allows us to identify strengths and weaknesses of economic as well as non-economic approaches to the field of work, entrepreneurship and economic integration.

In a first step we develop a heuristic framework that serves as the vantage point allowing us to distinguish and organise the types of conceptualisations and different theories dealing with economic integration. Secondly, the centrepiece of this report then reviews approaches and theories treating the (three) topics listed in the title.

In doing so the economy and economics take centre stage. This does not imply that only economists can do proper research in this field. It just implies that any analysis (regardless of its disciplinary background) has to rely on some kind of analytical scheme that connects the different approaches to economic approaches and to the general theoretical discussions in this field. The status of this report therefore is a reflexive one: discussion of the dominant economic topics and methodologies in this research area that any disciplinary or interdisciplinary approach in this field should be aware of. Issues related to work, entrepreneurship and economic integration are of major importance for any migration research effort, even if this does not imply that one needs to be an economist to do research in this field.

Economic integration – a heuristic frame

Any operationalisation of the meaning of ‘work, entrepreneurship and economic integration’ should start from what economists have made available already. The economists Thomas Bauer, John Haisken-DeNew and Christoph Schmidt have recently provided a systematic review and classification of economic migration research (Bauer et al. 2004). The authors identify three broad lines of research: The first line is dedicated to the analysis of factors determining the decision to migrate; the second line concentrates on the economic performance of immigrants in the destination countries; the third line focuses on the impact of immigration on the economy and especially its macroeconomic effects in the destination countries (Bauer et al. 2004: 5-6).