Entrepreneurship in Latin America: A Step Up the Social Ladder?

by World Bank, Francesca Castellani

Overview

This book looks at both the potential and limits of policies to promote entrepreneurship as an important vehicle for social mobility in Latin America and the Caribbean. Who are the region's entrepreneurs? They tend to be middle-aged males with secondary and, often, tertiary education who represent only a small segment of the economically active population in the six countries considered in this book. They come from families in which a parent is, or was, an entrepreneur. In fact, a parent's occupation is more important in the decision to become an entrepreneur than a parent's wealth, income or education.

Middle class entrepreneurship tends to dominate the sample in part since this is the majority class in society. However, as a percentage of each social class, entrepreneurship tends to be higher in the upper class, followed by the middle and lower class. Entrepreneurs concentrate in micro enterprises with fewer than five employees. They enjoy greater social mobility than employees and the self-employed, but this mobility is not always in the upward direction. Entrepreneurs face multiple obstacles including stifling bureaucracy, burdensome tax procedures, and lack of financing, human capital, technological skills, and supportive networks. The support of family and friends and a modicum of social capital help cope with these obstacles to entrepreneurship.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781464800085
Publisher:	Bernan Distribution
Publication date:	12/05/2013
Series:	Latin American Development Forum
Pages:	204
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

Foreword xvii

Acknowledgments xix

Abbreviations xx

Part I Overview 1

1 Overview and Policy Implications Andrés Solimano 3

2 Entrepreneurship, the Middle Class, and Social Mobility: An Overview of Literature Andrés Solimano 17

Part II International Comparisons and Country Studies 51

3 Middle-Class Entrepreneurs and Their Firms: A Regional View and International Comparison Hugo D. Kantis Juan S. Federico Luis A. Trajtenberg 53

4 The Role of Entrepreneurship in Promoting Intergenerational Social Mobility in Mexico Viviana Vélez-Grajales Roberto Vélez-Grajales 81

5 Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Values, and Public Policy in Argentina José Anchorena Lucas Ronconi 105

6 The Effect of Social Capital on Middle-Class Entrepreneurship in Ecuador Xavier Ordeñana Elizabeth Arteaga 149

Index 173