2017
Chapter
Measuring Entrepreneurial Businesses: Current Knowledge and Challenges

Immigrant Entrepreneurship

By: William R. Kerr and Sari Pekkala Kerr

Format:Print

Abstract

We examine immigrant entrepreneurship and the survival and growth of immigrant-founded businesses over time relative to native-founded companies. Our work quantifies immigrant contributions to new firm creation in a wide variety of fields and using multiple definitions. While significant research effort has gone into understanding the economic impact of immigration into the United States, comprehensive data for quantifying immigrant entrepreneurship are difficult to assemble. We combine several restricted-access U.S. Census Bureau data sets to create a unique longitudinal data platform that covers 1992–2008 and many states. We describe differences in the types of businesses initially formed by immigrants and their medium-term growth patterns. We also consider the relationship of these outcomes to the immigrants’ age at arrival to the United States.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship; Immigration; United States

Citation

Kerr, William R., and Sari Pekkala Kerr. "Immigrant Entrepreneurship." Chap. 5 in Measuring Entrepreneurial Businesses: Current Knowledge and Challenges. Vol. 75, edited by John Haltiwanger, Erik Hurst, Javier Miranda, and Antoinette Schoar. Studies in Income and Wealth (NBER). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017.