Immigrant Entrepreneurship and Economic Prosperity in Europe: Insights and Lessons from the Italian Case

Abstract This contribution aims at exploring the sectoral and structural characteristics of immigrant entrepreneurship in Italy, highlighting both its dynamism and its intrinsic fragilities within the broader European context. Building on the concept of “globalization from below”, the analysis seeks to illuminate how immigrant-led enterprises, despite operating predominantly in less specialized and lower-income sectors, contribute significantly to economic vitality, social innovation and transnational linkages. The study further intends to offer policy-relevant insights by critically examining the tensions between growth potential and structural vulnerabilities and by formulating strategic recommendations to unlock the full developmental role of immigrant entrepreneurship in a country - like Italy - marked by demographic decline, youth emigration and labour market stagnation. The methodology employed in this article is based on the systematic analysis of quantitative data drawn from authoritative and longitudinally consistent sources, including Eurostat’s Labour Force Survey (LFS), national administrative databases such as Infocamere and specialized research reports. Data sources were selected according to criteria of reliability, comparability and their capacity to capture sectoral trends and entrepreneurial dynamics among foreign-born populations. The analytical framework reflects a socio-statistical perspective shaped by over two decades of expertise in migration studies, gained through long-standing involvement in the Dossier Statistico Immigrazione - Italy’s principal annual compendium on migration - and, more specifically, through the coordination and authorship of several editions of the Rapporto Immigrazione e Imprenditoria, an annual publication edited by IDOS in collaboration with the CNA (Confederazione Nazionale dell’Artigianato e della Piccola e Media Impresa). This background ensures an integrated and critical reading of the data, attentive to both macro-structural dynamics and the micro-foundations of immigrant economic agency.