"The influence of national institutional factors in explaining the differences among immigrant self-employment rates across Europe has been understudied – and underappreciated," argues SPP doctoral student Magda Ulceluse. Ulceluse went on to explain that she is interested in finding out the effect of institutions on immigrant self-employment, noting that "by establishing and guaranteeing rights, enforcing and monitoring compliance to regulations, institutions create a framework within which immigrants make choices about their economic activities."
In her presentation at the CEU Annual Doctoral Conference on April 5, Ulceluse explained that immigrant self-employment rates vary dramatically within Europe – from between 4 and 5% in Luxembourg, Denmark, and Austria to 8 and 10% in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Portugal. "What's especially interesting is that even people from the same immigrant group are less likely to choose self-employment if they live in Denmark than if they live in Portugal." Ulceluse also presented data demonstrating that "foreign born self-employment" is most likely in the wholesale and retail sector. Even within this sector though, there is enormous variation among countries – from 10.6% in the United Kingdom to almost 30% in Greece and Spain. "This leads me to believe," said Ulceluse, "that institutions matter."
Ulceluse suggests that one of the reasons for this variation may be due to the different types of socio-economic regimes that exist in EU-15 countries. She identifies four of them: the Conservative-Continental model, the Nordic regime, the Liberal regime, and the Southern-Statist regime. Another angle that Ulceluse is exploring is to look at three dimensions to identify exactly which factors are responsible for these marked differences: immigration control and regulation, labor market, and provisions of social services.
Commenting on Ulceluse's paper, SPP Associate Professor Michael Dorsch urged her to do more "to tie the data to your argument." He noted also that capitalist institutions are endogenously determined and asked, "how did these institutions form, in response to what?"