Abstract

There is a dearth of economic literature that has focused on immigrants in Chile and their entrepreneurship. This is despite evidence that suggests immigrants are proportionally more likely to engage in entrepreneurial activities than local inhabitants. The objective of this paper is to explore the factors that influence individual's to engage in entrepreneurial activities among immigrants from South America in Chile. A rare event logit model was used to assess the factors that are likely to impact on entrepreneurial decision making processes. Results indicate that: length of residence, legal status on entry into the country, educational level and previous entrepreneurial experience influence the likelihood of entrepreneurship.