Segregation, Entrepreneurship and Work Values: the Case of France

This paper studies the interaction between labour market integration, “work values” and entrepreneurial capital inside minority communities. A simple model of labour market segmentation with ethnic capítal and endogenous transmission of cultural values inside a minority group is presented. It emphasizes the role of entrepreneurial capital as an important driver of labour market integration and as a promoter of meritocratic work values inside the community. The case immigrants in France is then empirically studied as an example. We show that the contrasted labour market outcomes and work values of immigrants from Maghreb versus Southern Europe are, statistically, totally explained away by their different levels of entrepreneurial capital.