Across the border: Immigrants’ economic opportunities, social capital and informal business activities

Abstract

"In this article, we [explore] the relationship between informal economic activities and recent immigrants in the Netherlands.... We will give an overview of important trends on both the demand and the supply side of entrepreneurial activities in the informal economy. We argue that the potential for informal economic activities by immigrants in large Dutch cities has been growing since the early 1980s. After having outlined this analytical framework, we examine some recent evidence on informal economic activities by immigrants in the Netherlands, especially in the bakeries sector, before concluding the discussion."