Doctoral Dissertation Research: Migration, Social Mobility, and Self-Employment

博士论文研究：移民、社会流动性和自营职业

• 批准号: 1701595
• 负责人: Jacqueline Hagan
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-05-01 至 2019-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1701595&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Migration; Social

This research directly informs policies to reduce income disparities. More than 80% of the world's population live in low- to middle-income countries. These regions are characterized by a high degree of socioeconomic stratification and low levels of intra- and intergenerational mobility. Although extensive research documents patterns of stratification, few studies consider particular mobility pathways available to different classes of workers. As the noted economist, Gary Fields (2013), observed in his recent report to the United Nations, a critical aim of post-2015 development policies should be identifying "interventions to promote the graduation of the self-employed from one segment to another, higher-earning form of employment." This dissertation responds to that call by identifying factors associated with both upward and downward economic mobility among the self-employed. Of the major strategies used to address income disparities, educational reform is an important one, but, initial results suggest that policies that provide business capital and access to credit to self-employed workers with little schooling may have the greatest short-term potential to promote mobility. This research also contributes to contemporary debates about immigrant incorporation in the United States. By documenting economic mobility pathways available to Mexican immigrants in their origin communities, this study will contextualize the process of economic incorporation within broader patterns of economic inequality in sending countries. It is impossible to truly understand and incorporate new arrivals without first understanding their origins.This project investigates two mobility pathways--self-employment and international migration--commonly used by workers of varying social classes in Mexico, a highly unequal country. To do so, the Co-PI will 1) assemble a nationally representative panel dataset of self-employed Mexican workers in 2008-2012; 2) analyze 52 in-depth interviews that were conducted with self-employed return migrants in an urban and industrial community, and 30 interviews that were conducted with self-employed return migrants in a rural and agrarian community; 3) develop a typology of self-employment that identifies marginal, temporary, and successful businesses; and 4) use quantitative methods to analyze how social class and market sector affects the risk of business failure among all self-employed workers. The proposed research will address two related research questions: First, is self-employment a mobility pathway in highly stratified labor markets? Second, how does migration experience in the United States shape self-employment trajectories among returning labor migrants in urban and rural sending communities?

这项研究直接为减少收入差距的政策提供了信息。世界上80%以上的人口生活在低收入和中等收入国家。这些区域的特点是社会经济分层程度高，代内和代间流动性低。虽然广泛的研究文件的分层模式，很少有研究认为特定的流动途径提供给不同类别的工人。正如著名经济学家加里·菲尔兹（2013年）在其最近提交联合国的报告中指出的那样，2015年后发展政策的一个关键目标应是确定“促进自营职业者从一个部门毕业进入另一个收入更高的就业形式的干预措施。“本论文通过确定与自营职业者的向上和向下经济流动性相关的因素来响应这一呼吁。在用于解决收入差距的主要战略中，教育改革是一项重要战略，但初步结果表明，向没有受过多少教育的自营职业者提供商业资本和获得信贷的政策，在促进流动性方面可能具有最大的短期潜力。这项研究也有助于当代辩论移民纳入美国。通过记录墨西哥移民在其原籍社区的经济流动途径，这项研究将在更广泛的经济不平等的模式在原籍国的背景下的经济融合的过程。如果不了解新移民的来源，就无法真正了解他们并将其融入社会。本项目调查了墨西哥这个高度不平等的国家中不同社会阶层的工人通常使用的两种流动途径-自营职业和国际移民。为此，Co-PI将1）收集2008-2012年墨西哥自营职业工人的全国代表性小组数据集; 2）分析对城市和工业社区自营职业返回移民进行的52次深入访谈，以及对农村和农业社区自营职业返回移民进行的30次访谈; 3）发展一种类型的自营职业，确定边缘，临时和成功的企业;和4）使用定量方法来分析社会阶层和市场部门如何影响所有自营职业者的业务失败的风险。拟议的研究将解决两个相关的研究问题：第一，在高度分层的劳动力市场中，自雇是一种流动途径吗？第二，美国的移民经历如何塑造城市和农村派遣社区中返回的劳动力移民的自营职业轨迹？