Immigrant entrepreneurship in Italy

Benedetta Cassani, Università di Roma "La Sapienza"
Cristina Giudici, Università di Roma "La Sapienza"

Immigrant entrepreneurship is considered an important tool to favour integration in the socio-economic context of the destination country. Immigrant entrepreneurship in Italy has grown consistently in quantitative terms and has shown a solid process of settlement in specific sectors. In this contest, on one hand immigrant entrepreneurship could be interpreted as an important tool for the social and economic inclusion of migrants; and on the other hand immigrants could have a positive effect on the economy of the destination country if they are significantly more entrepreneurial than natives. The aim of the study is to provide an overview of the characteristics and geographical distribution of the immigrant entrepreneurship phenomena in Italy, considering the main characteristics of immigrant flows in the Italian scenario from an economic, demographic and social prospective. The research is based on the “ASIA” data base, realised by the Italian Statistical Office and concerning enterprises working in Italy from 1999 to 2008. The study is structured into two distinct phases: firstly, a descriptive analysis has been realized, focusing on the characteristics of the main community showing a high number of enterprise start up in Italy; secondly, an interpretative phase has been implemented, through a multidimensional approach, aimed to identify the significant variables influencing the development of immigrants entrepreneurship.