Solano, Giacomo

Giacomo
Solano

I am Head of Research at the Migration Policy Group, Brussels, Belgium. Previously, I worked as policy officer/consultant for the European Commission (DG Employment) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and as researcher for the Eindhoven University of Technology. I hold a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Amsterdam and University of Milan-Bicocca (joint degree). My research interests include comparative integration policies (in particular, in the EU), labour market...

Expertise

Migration processes
Migration consequences (for migrants, sending and receiving countries)
Migration governance
Cross-cutting topics in migration research
Disciplines
Methods
Geographies

Roles

  • Migration Policy Group (MPG)

    Research Institute, Brussels, Belgium
    Head of Research

Research

Beyond immigration: Moving from Western to Global Indexes of Migration Policy

Authors Giacomo Solano, Thomas Huddleston, Migration Policy Group
Year 2021
Journal Name Global Policy
Taxonomy View Taxonomy Associations
1 Journal Article

The Integration of Interstate Migrants in India: A 7 State Policy Evaluation

Authors Varun Aggarwal, Giacomo Solano, Priyansha Singh, ...
Year 2020
Journal Name INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION
Taxonomy View Taxonomy Associations
2 Journal Article

Transnationalism and Belonging: The Case of Moroccan Entrepreneurs in Amsterdam and Milan

Authors Giacomo Solano, Raffaele Vacca, Matteo Gagliolo, ...
Year 2020
Journal Name SOCIAL INCLUSION
3 Journal Article

MIPEX2020

Authors Solano Giacomo, Huddleston Thomas
Description
The book illustrates the results of the new edition of the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX). MIPEX is a unique tool which measures policies to integrate migrants in countries across five continents, including all EU Member States (including the UK), other European countries (Albania, Iceland, North Macedonia, Moldova, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine), Asian countries (China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, and South Korea), North American countries (Canada, Mexico and US), South American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile), and Australia and New Zealand in Oceania. MIPEX analyses integration policies in the following eight areas of integration: Labour market mobility; Family reunification; Education; Political participation; Permanent residence; Access to nationality; Anti-discrimination; and Health. To cite: Solano, Giacomo & Huddleston, Thomas (2020). Migrant Integration Policy Index 2020. Barcelona/ Brussels: CIDOB and MPG. ISBN: 978-84-92511-83-9
Year 2020
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4 Report

The mixed embeddedness of transnational migrant entrepreneurs: Moroccans in Amsterdam and Milan

Authors Giacomo Solano
Year 2019
Journal Name Journal Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Taxonomy View Taxonomy Associations
5 Journal Article

The Use of New Technologies by Migrant Entrepreneurs in Two European Cities

Authors Alberta Andreotti, Giacomo Solano
Year 2019
Book Title Diaspora Networks in International Business
Taxonomy View Taxonomy Associations
6 Book Chapter

Measures to Support Early-Stage Migrant Entrepreneurs

Authors Giacomo Solano, Alexander Wolffhardt, Aldo Xhani
Description
Migrant entrepreneurship has received increasing attention from policy makers, stakeholders and scholars. In both the Action Plan for the integration of third country nationals and the 2020 Entrepreneurship Action Plan, the European Commission emphasises that entrepreneurship represents an alternative form of decent and sustainable employment for migrants. This also follows recent academic and non-academic studies on the topic (European Commission, 2016; Rath, Solano and Schutjens, 2019). There are at least four reasons why policies and measures should focus on supporting migrant entrepreneurs, especially in early stages of the business: • Self-employment represents a way towards empowerment. Although it cannot be taken for granted that self-employment provides migrants with a higher income in comparison to those who opted for a salaried employment (see Bradley, 2004), self-employment represents a way to tackle unemployment, and underemployment - professional downgrading and employment in poorly paid, dangerous and demanding jobs (Rath, Solano and Schutjens, 2019). Furthermore, through migrant entrepreneurship, migrants can improve their social status in the receiving society (Allen and Busse, 2016; Basu, 2001; Solano, 2015). • The impact of migrant entrepreneurship goes way beyond the benefits for the individual entrepreneur. In quantifiable terms, the number of firms, the employment creation, the volume in trade and sales are increasing, something that may benefit the economy in general (Desiderio, 2014). Migrant entrepreneurs also bring about qualitative economic and market changes that result in relatively new products and processes. They gravitate to particular neighborhoods or areas, thereby creating interesting places for leisure and consumption and revitalizing these areas (see, Aytar and Rath, 2012). • A relevant number of migrants starts a business. While many international migrants are economically active as wage workers (i.e., employees), a small but significant number has chosen or would like to start a business. About 13 per cent of all foreign-born migrants in OECD countries are selfemployed (OECD, 2010 and 2013). The same happens for the EU28 countries, in which around the 12% of foreign population is self-employed (Eurostat, 2017). In many countries the rate of self-employment among migrants is higher than the one of natives (Eurostat, 2017; OECD, 2010 and 2013). • Migrant-owned business are likely to fail and to be in low-profitable sectors. Despite self-employment and entrepreneurship represent a promising alternative option for migrants to access the labour market, they need to be adequately supported by policies and initiatives. In fact, migrant enterprises have higher failure rates than nativeowned ones and tend to concentrate in low-profitable sectors (e.g., petty trade) with no possibilities of growth (Desiderio and Mestres 2011; OECD, 2010; Rath and Schutjens, 2016). The difficulties that migrant entrepreneurs have in running the business is due to some specific obstacles that migrants – and, more in general, vulnerable groups -face when they want to start a business. The obstacles are well-known and there is an extensive literature on this (Desiderio, 2014; Rath and Swagerman, 2016): • they have difficulties in accessing credit, especially for financial institutions. As they often lack collaterals (e.g., they do not own a house), financial institutions are likely to deny credit to them. Consequently, migrant entrepreneurs normally receive small loans from relatives, friends and other migrants. This hampers the possibility of entering in sectors that requires a relevant starting capital, which are normally more profitable. • migrant entrepreneurs have difficulties to deal with the bureaucracy of the host country. They have difficulties in understanding all the administrative steps to start the business. • they (often) lack of familiarity with the (business) environment and the market where they start the business. Having only limited knowledge of the context of the destination country – with often information received from other migrants – tunnels them towards ethnic and/or not profitable markets. • a limited personal network, which is often composed of other migrants, does not help in dealing with bureaucracy or accessing information on potential unexplored market – as other migrants have often limited information as well. In conclusion, migrant entrepreneurship may represent an alternative way to access the labour market of the host | 2 country. However, migrant entrepreneurship often results in low-profitable highly-demanding micro businesses, which do not represent a decent form of employment. This is because of the barriers that migrants face when it comes to start a business. Migrant entrepreneurship needs to be supported to become an alternative form of decent employment. Policy makers and support providers (e.g. public employment services, NGOs, microcredit institutions) often face many obstacles in the design and implementation of support policies for migrant entrepreneurs. This handbook is addressed to policy makers in the field and support providers and aims at summarizing the main kinds of support that can be provided to migrant entrepreneurs and the factors for successful support measures. In doing this, we present some good practices.
Year 2019
Taxonomy View Taxonomy Associations
7 Report

Private Sponsorship Programmes and humanitarian visas: a viable policy framework for integration?

Authors Giacomo Solano, Valentina Savazzi, Migration Policy Group (MPG)
Year 2019
Taxonomy View Taxonomy Associations
8 Policy Brief

A personal network approach to the study of immigrant structural assimilation and transnationalism

Authors Raffaele Vacca, Giacomo Solano, Miranda Jessica Lubbers, ...
Year 2018
Journal Name Social Networks
Citations (WoS) 7
Taxonomy View Taxonomy Associations
9 Journal Article

CrossMigration

Principal investigator Peter Scholten (Project co-ordinator), Asya Pisarevskaya (Project manager), Nathan Levy (Project manager), Adham Aly (Project assistant)
Description
The Migration Research Hub supports the systematic accumulation of knowledge in migration studies. It aims to be the go-to resource for finding knowledge on migration, from the latest literature to the most appropriate topical experts. In the spirit of a collaborative approach to knowledge management in migration studies, researchers from all around the world are invited to contribute with their publications and expertise to further innovation in the field. The taxonomy of migration studies developed through this project allows everyone to identify opportunities for collaboration and new research projects across disciplines and geographies. The systematic approach to data collection and knowledge accumulation promotes and facilitates dialogue between researchers and policy stakeholders, and raises awareness of the latest debates and the most current and emerging questions about migration. The Migration Research hub was built during the IMISCOE-led Horizon 2020 project, CrossMigration (2018-2020). See a list of the team members below. The project is now fully integrated into and maintained by IMISCOE.
Year 2018
Taxonomy View Taxonomy Associations
10 Project

A personal network approach to the study of immigrant structural assimilation and transnationalism

Authors Raffaele Vacca, Giacomo Solano, Miranda Jessica Lubbers, ...
Year 2018
Journal Name Social Networks
Taxonomy View Taxonomy Associations
11 Journal Article

Multifocal entrepreneurial practices: the case of Moroccan import/export businesses in Milan

Authors Giacomo Solano
Year 2016
Journal Name International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Taxonomy View Taxonomy Associations
12 Journal Article

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