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This article focuses on the development and use of indicators for subnational comparative policy analysis. Taking migrant integration as an exemplary case, it offers a comprehensive and critical examination of the research process involved in creating and implementing indicators to compare policies at the subnational level. At the intersection of subnational comparative policy analysis and migration research, this article discusses the main methodological and empirical challenges to this process based on the experience of a comparative research project on measuring regional governance of migrant integration in 25 regions across 7 European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to a lack of data, quantitative analysis of integration policy trends during the past decade has received limited attention. This research note presents newly collected data from the Migrant Integration Policy Index, which includes information on several different policy areas related to migrant integration in 36 EU and OECD countries between 2010 and 2019. Employing a wide set of methods, we investigate whether migrant integration policies have become more liberal or restrictive and whether they have converged across these countries during this period. We find that overall these policies have become more liberal, except in non-EU countries as well as in the areas of family reunion and permanent residence. However, the magnitude of these changes is rather small. We also show that there has been a trend of convergence in integration policy, which varies in intensity across policy areas. We conclude that while migrants' rights have been extended, long-term settlement has been limited. The popular idea that this decade, marked by crises, has triggered a comprehensive restrictive backlash in migrant integration policies is refuted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing literature shows that social contacts and resources available through social networks are particularly important for migrant entrepreneurs. This seems to apply also to transnational migrant entrepreneurs, who are migrants involved in entrepreneurial activities crossing national borders. It is still not entirely clear which kind of social contacts they use, nor the differences with migrant entrepreneurs conducting a domestic (namely, non-transnational) business. The paper focuses on the use of social networks by transnational and domestic entrepreneurs, by illustrating the case of Moroccan migrant entrepreneurs in Amsterdam and Milan. The research reveals that transnational entrepreneurs have more heterogenous, geographically dispersed and territorially articulated support networks, which are both more extensive and less dense than those of domestic entrepreneurs. Transnational entrepreneurs exploit their capacity to have contacts with different people in different places. In contrast, domestic entrepreneurs tend to mobilize resources within their dense, homogeneous, and locally based networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the social networks of rural–urban migrant entrepreneurs in Uganda. While social contacts are often an important asset to access resources for migrants, they are often expected to financially support the members of their social networks. These claims for support are here labelled ‘negative social capital’, following Portes' seminal work. This paper focuses on the kinds of networks that are more likely to produce negative social capital, operationalized here as requests for financial resources, and links this to the discourse on bridging and bonding social capital. By means of a regression analysis, this article provides evidence of dense networks with a higher share of migrants (bonding social capital) being associated with negative social capital. In addition, both a higher share of contacts met before migration, which is related to bonding social capital, and a higher share of contacts living in the city, which is related to bridging social capital, are negatively associated with requests for resources. These findings suggest that migrants can instrumentally keep some contacts from before migration and acquire new key contacts in the urban area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrant entrepreneurship has been recognized as a form of integration in the country of destination and a viable alternative of decent and sustainable employment for migrants. Laws and policies can create barriers or support migrants who start a business in the country of destination. Despite their importance, these laws and policies have received scant attention from academic scholarship. By applying the mixed embedded approach, this article analyses the institutional and policy framework for migrant entrepreneurs in European Union (EU) and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, and how this framework varies according to the migrants' individual legal status and gender. In order to do so, this article draws upon the findings of two different studies conducted on the topic. The first one analyses the national institutional framework for migrant entrepreneurs of these countries. The second study consists of a review of measures to foster migrant entrepreneurship in the same sample of countries. On the one hand, this article shows that the institutional framework restricts access to self‐employment for some categories of migrants (e.g. based on their legal status). On the other hand, a wide range of measures are now available to support migrant entrepreneurs. However, these measures treat them as a rather homogeneous group. These findings suggest that the fact that some migrants are less engaged in self‐employment or face more difficulties may be explained by the lack of institutional opportunities and policy support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides novel insights into the main factors associated with integration policies at the national level. Existing literature has analysed specific factors in Western countries, while a comprehensive, theoretically informed, and up-to-date overview is missing, especially regarding non-Western countries. This article fills this gap by combining 2014 and 2019 Migrant Integration Policy Index data on integration policies in 56 countries—including non-Western countries—with publicly available international data on migration and asylum trends, economic conditions, and public opinion on migration. Building upon existing literature, we introduce three perspectives: evidence-based, institutionalist, and partisan perspectives. The evidence-based perspective assumes that policy-makers act based on objective factors related to the policy issue (e.g. the number of migrants). The institutionalist perspective points to the relevance of institutional conditions, such as labour markets and welfare institutions. The partisan perspective refers to the role of political ideologies and attitudes in public opinion and in the media. Results suggest that factors related to the institutionalist perspective play the most critical role, alongside factors linked to the partisan perspective. However, the results provide evidence for all three perspectives. Migrant integration policies are associated with several factors: the number of asylum applications and the number of refugees (evidence-based perspective); GDP (per capita) and welfare expenditure (institutionalist perspective); political ideology; and public opinion (partisan perspective). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we look at the various paths taken by transnational and domestic entrepreneurs based on their education and work experience. These act as catalysts for skills that allow migrant entrepreneurs to better position themselves in different markets. Differences in migrant entrepreneurs allow us to better understand the strategies employed and the consequences for society and the economy at both domestic and transnational levels. Earlier research has extensively analysed individual characteristics of migrant entrepreneurs and, to a much lesser extent, the geographical nature of their business activities. This article addresses this gap by looking at the geographical orientation of migrant entrepreneurs' businesses. The research question is as follows: In what ways are transnational or domestic activities of Moroccan migrant entrepreneurs in the Netherlands and Italy influenced by skills acquired in earlier experiences? We provide empirical evidence on the different paths leading to domestic and transnational activities using a micro-level perspective of the experiences collected in the narratives of first-generation Moroccan migrant entrepreneurs who have migrated to Milan or Amsterdam (N=70). Four different paths combining these two life experiences emerged from the interviews: #1 Job-based, #2 Education-driven, #3 Job-education merger, and #4 By chance (neither education nor work experience). The most relevant paths for migrant entrepreneurs seem to be the first (#1) and third (#3) paths. Furthermore, our findings show that transnationally oriented entrepreneurs have an extended business-oriented education and rely on skills learned, in contrast to domestically oriented entrepreneurs who become entrepreneurs 'by chance'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]