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Return International Migration and Geographical Inequality: The Case of Egypt

Return International Migration and Geographical Inequality: The Case of Egypt
Return International Migration and Geographical Inequality: The Case of Egypt
This paper explores entrepreneurship amongst return migrants, how their business locations and characteristics differ from other businesses, and the implications for rural–urban inequality. First, we examine, amongst returnees, the determinants of investment in a project/enterprise. Secondly, we study the impact of return migration on the characteristics and nature of non-farm small enterprises using a sample of return migrants and non-migrant owners of enterprises.
Our data indicate that although the share of return migrants originating in urban areas is almost equal to those from rural areas, and that migrants tend to return to their origin region, urban areas benefit more than rural areas from international savings. The empirical evidence suggests that overseas savings, and the duration of stay overseas, have positive separate effects on the probability of investing in a project/enterprise amongst returnees. Furthermore, returnees of urban origin are more likely than rural ones to invest in a non-farm enterprise.
The findings also indicate that there is a regional bias in the location of firms and jobs created by returnees compared with non-migrants, in favour of the capital city. Thus, overall, the results support a positive impact of return migration on enterprise investment in urban areas driven by the preference of returnees to invest in urban areas.
return migration, remittances, developing countries, rural-urban inequality
0963-8024
500-532
McCormick, Barry
6030c745-bb61-4e93-ab8f-91e676281e08
Wahba, Jackline
03ae9304-c329-40c6-9bfc-d91cfa9e7164
McCormick, Barry
6030c745-bb61-4e93-ab8f-91e676281e08
Wahba, Jackline
03ae9304-c329-40c6-9bfc-d91cfa9e7164

McCormick, Barry and Wahba, Jackline (2003) Return International Migration and Geographical Inequality: The Case of Egypt. Journal of African Economies, 12 (4), 500-532. (doi:10.1093/jae/12.4.500).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper explores entrepreneurship amongst return migrants, how their business locations and characteristics differ from other businesses, and the implications for rural–urban inequality. First, we examine, amongst returnees, the determinants of investment in a project/enterprise. Secondly, we study the impact of return migration on the characteristics and nature of non-farm small enterprises using a sample of return migrants and non-migrant owners of enterprises.
Our data indicate that although the share of return migrants originating in urban areas is almost equal to those from rural areas, and that migrants tend to return to their origin region, urban areas benefit more than rural areas from international savings. The empirical evidence suggests that overseas savings, and the duration of stay overseas, have positive separate effects on the probability of investing in a project/enterprise amongst returnees. Furthermore, returnees of urban origin are more likely than rural ones to invest in a non-farm enterprise.
The findings also indicate that there is a regional bias in the location of firms and jobs created by returnees compared with non-migrants, in favour of the capital city. Thus, overall, the results support a positive impact of return migration on enterprise investment in urban areas driven by the preference of returnees to invest in urban areas.

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Published date: 2003
Keywords: return migration, remittances, developing countries, rural-urban inequality

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 34546
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/34546
ISSN: 0963-8024
PURE UUID: 4de248d7-bc56-4c06-8ea3-ec531a16b46a
ORCID for Jackline Wahba: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0002-3443

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 16 May 2006
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:50

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