Royal Delicacies at Peasant Prices: ‘Cross-national differences, Common grounds' - Towards an empirically supported theory of the informal economic activities of migrants"

Turkish groceries and fast food restaurants, Chinese barbecues,
Pakistani kiosks, Iranian pizzerias and carpet stores, Arabic kebab houses,
erotic artists from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, exchange agencies
across Denmark and many other EU countries, a growing number of wholesale
businesses in the Copenhagen area and other EU capitals are all manifestations
of contemporary immigrant entrepreneurship. The list could be easily extended
as immigrants in many cities in the European Union, and in advanced
economies in general, have set up their own businesses of various kinds.
But what is the role and the impact of immigrant owned businesses, and
what influence do they have on the welfare state, on living conditions of
immigrants and natives and on the economy in general? Drawing on empirical
evidence from cross-national studies we attempt to provide answers to these
core issues, whilst developing conceptual foundations of a theoretical
framework that can explain the phenomenon, enabling us to make more reliable
predictions future development.