Born Entrepreneurs?

Nahikari Irastorza is a postdoctoral researcher funded by the Basque regional government at Metropolis British Columbia, Simon Fraser University. She has conducted research in Spain, Sweden, Colombia and Canada. She has published several book chapters and presented her work at various international conferences in Europe and North America.

“Most of Europe’s population growth comes from immigrants. Immigrant entrepreneurship is poorly understood, and Nahikari Irastorza has blazed a trail for Spain and the Basque Country with this fascinating study.” Jonathan Levie, Reader, Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow “This work presents a unique analysis to explain the differential success of Spanish immigrant entrepreneurs by employing the intriguing concept of the liability of foreignness, which alone warrants a careful reading of this book.” Don DeVoretz, Professor of Economics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia "This is a much-welcomed book for all those interested in understanding the fast pace of immigration to Spain. Quite unusual in European literature, it addresses migrant entrepreneurship through an economist’s approach, resorting to a combination of quantitative data and qualitative survey. The result is a comprehensive look at contemporary Spanish migration, a critical appraisal of national policies’ shortcomings and a diagnosis for challenging some of migration studies’ previous analyses." Margarida Marques, New University of Lisbon

• Table of contents - 8 Tables - 10 Graphs - 12 Part I: Introduction and context - 14 1. Introduction - 16 2. Immigration to Spain: Policies and facts - 24 Part II: Theoretical discussion - 52 3. Literature review - 54 4. Conceptual framework - 76 Part III: Empirical study - 82 5. Data and methodology - 84 6. Results of the empirical analysis - 118 Part IV: Conclusions and implications - 142 7. Final conclusions - 144 8. Academic and policy implications - 150 References - 154 Appendices - 160