Entrepreneurial Coaching and Migration Intentions - Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Senegal

Entrepreneurship has emerged as a potentially important but understudied mechanism influencing migration decisions, particularly in low-income contexts where labor market opportunities are scarce. This paper examines whether entrepreneurship promotion can affect migration intentions, with a specific focus on the distinction between regular and irregular pathways. We provide new experimental evidence from Senegal, a country characterized by high youth unemployment and persistent irregular migration yet underrepresented in migration-related field experiments. In collaboration with the national agency DER/FJ, we conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a stratified sample of 1,159 young adults (ages 18–35) from the Dakar metropolitan area. Participants assigned to the treatment group are invited to a one-week entrepreneurship coaching program, while a control group did not receive the intervention. To address non-compliance with treatment assignment, we employ an instrumental variables (IV) strategy and estimate the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE) for compliers, individuals who participated in the program when offered. Our study makes three contributions: first, it provides rigorous causal evidence on whether short, low-cost coaching interventions influence preferences for regular versus irregular migration; second, it broadens the empirical literature on labor market interventions, entrepreneurship promotion, and migration determinants in low-income settings; and third, it highlights the potential policy relevance of entrepreneurship support as a complementary strategy to mitigate irregular migration pressures.