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Overseas Work Experience, Savings and Entrepreneurship Amongst Return Migrants to LDCs
Author(s) -
McCormick Barry,
Wahba Jackline
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
scottish journal of political economy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.4
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1467-9485
pISSN - 0036-9292
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9485.00192
Subject(s) - entrepreneurship , constraint (computer aided design) , economics , work (physics) , developing country , developed country , demographic economics , duration (music) , labour economics , economic growth , sociology , finance , population , mechanical engineering , engineering , art , demography , literature
This paper contributes to a small but rapidly growing literature concerned with the potentially substantial implications of international migration for economic development in LDCs. We study the linkages between overseas employment, savings and entrepreneurial activity on return. In an econometric model of the probability of entrepreneurial activity, we find evidence supporting the hypotheses that both overseas savings, and the duration of stay overseas increase the probability of becoming an entrepreneur amongst literate returnees to Egypt. Amongst illiterate returnees, overseas savings alone increase the probability of becoming an entrepreneur. The results for literates suggest that skill acquisition overseas may matter more substantially than overcoming a savings constraint in explaining how overseas opportunities influence entrepreneurship on return. For illiterates, who usually accept menial positions overseas that offer little opportunity for learning, the opposite obtains.