Template-type: ReDif-Paper 1.0 
Author-Name: Mahé, Clothilde
Author-Email: mahe@merit.unu.edu
Author-workplace-name: UNU-MERIT
Title: Skills and entrepreneurship: Are return migrants 'Jacks-of-all-trades'?
Abstract: This paper examines whether and how return migrants may be more likely 
	 to be entrepreneurs. With reference to Lazear's Jack-of-all-trades 
	 hypothesis, we posit that return migrants may be more likely to choose 
	 self-employment as a result of the diverse work experience they gain as 
	 migrants. Using the 2012 Egyptian Labour Market Panel Survey, seemingly 
	 unrelated regression model estimates show that return migration 
	 increases the propensity to be self-employed, controlling for the 
	 possession of savings. This is found to be due to a Jack-of-all-trades 
	 effect, whereby migration helps accumulating more occupations and jobs. 
	 Sector-specific rather than multi-sector experience may also benefit 
	 entrepreneurship, as it was found that the more industries an emigrant 
	 worked in, the less the probability of self-employment upon return. 
	 Self-employed might thus need a generalist, balanced mix of occupational 
	 skills, within a relatively narrow set of industries. These findings 
	 hold for non-agricultural activities.
Keywords: International migration, Return migration, Entrepreneurship, Human capital,
	 North Africa, Egypt
Classification-JEL: F22, J24, L26, O12, O15
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 20161216
Number: 2016-071
File-URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2016/wp2016-071.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2016071