Migration, Economic Inequality and Redistribution: The Italian Case

The present paper deals with some frontier issues of the political economy of immigration for the host countries. In particular, from an economic point of view, it studies the effects of immigration on income inequality, attempting to demonstrate, through a critical review of the most recent theoretical models and empirical research on this issue, how out-migration can increase income inequalities, thus hindering economic growth and exacerbating regional disparities, while immigration can reduce income inequalities and mitigate economic imbalances. From a juridical point of view, instead, the paper address the issues of the freedom of movement of high-skilled workers and the access to welfare benefits for migrants in a context of reorganization and differentiation of regional welfare systems. The legal analysis, combined with the results obtained through the economic analysis, provides some useful suggestions to help policy makers and lawgivers in the management of migratory phenomena and counteract the human and industrial desertification of whole regions or macroareas.