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September 11 and the Rise of Necessity Self-Employment Among Mexican Immigrants

Author

Listed:
  • Chunbei Wang

    (The University of Oklahoma)

  • Magnus Lofstrom

    (Public Policy Institute of California)

Abstract

Since the September 11 attacks (9/11), the USA has seen a tightening of immigration policies. Previous studies find that stricter immigration enforcement has the unintended effect of pushing undocumented immigrants into self-employment. This paper builds on the literature to better understand the changes in the types of self-employment among Mexican immigrants triggered by the tightened immigration enforcement after 9/11. Using a difference-in-differences approach, and the recently developed measures by Fairlie and Fossen (Opportunity versus necessity entrepreneurship: two components of business creation, 2018) to distinguish between necessity and opportunity self-employment, we find that both necessity and opportunity self-employment increased among Mexican immigrants after 9/11. However, the effect is most prominent on necessity self-employment, consistent with the hypothesis that they are pushed into self-employment as a survival alternative.

Suggested Citation

  • Chunbei Wang & Magnus Lofstrom, 2020. "September 11 and the Rise of Necessity Self-Employment Among Mexican Immigrants," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 5-33, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:easeco:v:46:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1057_s41302-019-00142-7
    DOI: 10.1057/s41302-019-00142-7
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    Cited by:

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    2. Brown, Xin, 2023. "Labor market impacts of state-level occupational licensing of undocumented immigrants," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(4), pages 478-496.
    3. Travis Wiseman, 2021. "Immigration and Baumolian Entrepreneurship in the United States," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 36(Fall 2021), pages 1-26.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mexican immigrants; Self-employment; 9/11; Tightened immigration policies; Necessity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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