Human capital, work experience, savings and entrepreneurial intention. The case of migrants returned to the Mixteca Poblana

Abstract

The objectives of this article are to contribute to the study of the determinants of entrepreneurial intentions in the State of Puebla, Mexico; as well as to assist to the debate about the effects of human capital, experience and savings accumulated in the US on returnees' entrepreneurial intentions. This study allows to obtain recommendations that can enhance entrepreneurship among Mexican returnees from the US. Using a probit and instrumental variables approach, the analysis finds a positive impact of savings on entrepreneurial intentions, which demonstrates the importance of credit constraints in the municipalities studied. It also finds a positive effect for the labor experience, measured by the persistence in the industry sector, pre, during and post migration, which demonstrates the transferability of human capital between countries. Finally, the article finds the existence of an interaction effect between savings and the type of persistence in industry sector, which demonstrates that certain returnees have a vulnerable situation when they return to Mexico.