Jan Rath (Chair of the Department of Sociology of the University of Amsterdam)

Date: May 30th 2019

Time: 15:00 - 17:00

Place: UPF Campus Ciutadella, Roger de Llúria Building, Room 40.246

Title: Promoting Migrant Entrepreneurship.

Abstract: An increasing number of immigrants have become entrepreneurial and many governments expect or hope that the ongoing rise of migrant entrepreneurship will contribute significantly to the integration of immigrants, to their upward mobility, and to the economic development of the city of residence. Based on the mixed embeddedness approach, this presentation explores the rules, regulations and policy interventions that shape self-employment trajectories in general and those of immigrant ethnic minorities in particular. Empirical evidence is drawn from on a general inventory of measures to promote ethnic entrepreneurship in 32 European countries, and a somewhat deeper inventory of policies and interventions in 28 European cities. While all kinds of measures and interventions can be identified, the most striking finding is that explicit measures and interventions are thin on the ground. What are the structural determinants of such an outcome?

Bio: Professor of Urban Sociology and Chair of the Department of Sociology of the University of Amsterdam (UvA), and researcher at the Center for Urban Studies and the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies (IMES) in the same university. He is also the President of UvA’s University Forum, that aims to facilitate intellectual debate about the UvA, its values and strategies, and its future. He is, moreover, the European Chair of International Metropolis, an associate of the World Economic Forum, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre on Migration, Policy, and Society (COMPAS) within the University of Oxford. He has been an advisor of a wide array of local, national and supranational governmental organizations and civic society institutions, including the European Commission, the OECD, and the United Nations (notably the IOM, UNHCR, UNCTAD, and the Population Division). His current work revolve around the development of urban amenities and cultural consumption, and the concomitant proliferation of urban identities, life styles and the urban commons. Natural field work sites include specialty coffee bars, hot bakeries, chocolate architects, olive oil specialists, craft beer breweries, ‘ethnic’ home decoration stores, street food treks, an various other amenities drawing the attention of the new middle classes. www.janrath.com 

Recommended Reading:

Rath, J. and Swagerman, A. (2015) "Promoting Ethnic Entrepreneurship in European Cities: Sometimes Ambitious, Mostly Absent, Rarely Addressing Structural Features" International Migration 54 (1) 152-166.

See the poster