Investing Back Home: Return Migration and Business Ownership in Albania

36 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by Talip Kilic

Talip Kilic

World Bank - Development Data Group (DECDG)

Calogero Carletto

World Bank; World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)

Benjamin Davis

United Nations - Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Alberto Zezza

United Nations - Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Date Written: September 1, 2007

Abstract

In view of its increasing importance, and the dearth of information on return migration and its impacts on source households, this study uses data from the 2005 Albania Living Standards Measurement Study survey and assesses the impact of past migration experience of Albanian households on non-farm business ownership through instrumental variables regression techniques. Moreover, considering the differences in earning potentials and opportunities for skill acquisition in different destination countries, the impact of household past migration experience is differentiated by main migrant destinations, namely Greece and Italy. The study also tests for the hypothesis of the existence of migration cycles, by differentiating the time spent abroad based on the year of return. The empirical results indicate that household past migration experience exerts a positive impact on the probability of owning a non-farm business. While one additional year in Greece increases the probability of household business ownership by roughly 7 percent, a similar experience in Italy or further destinations raises the probability by over 30 percent. Although past migration experience for the period 1990-2000 is positively associated with the likelihood of owning a household enterprise, a similar impact does not materialize for the period 2001-2004. The latter finding seems suggestive of the fact that more recent migrants are yet to attain a target level of required savings and skills in order to successfully establish a new business upon return.

Keywords: Population Policies, Access to Finance, Debt Markets, Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement

Suggested Citation

Kilic, Talip and Carletto, Calogero and Davis, Benjamin and Zezza, Alberto, Investing Back Home: Return Migration and Business Ownership in Albania (September 1, 2007). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4366, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1017172

Talip Kilic

World Bank - Development Data Group (DECDG) ( email )

Via Labicana 110
Rome, Lazio 00184
Italy

Calogero Carletto (Contact Author)

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)

1818 H. Street, N.W.
MSN3-311
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Benjamin Davis

United Nations - Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) ( email )

Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
Rome, Lazio 00100
Italy

Alberto Zezza

United Nations - Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) ( email )

Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
Rome, Lazio 00100
Italy