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REGISTERMigration
is one of the main engines of socio-economic and cultural
change in society, even more so in the last decade, as millions
of people left their home countries in search for better opportunities.
Migration alters the economic and cultural milieu, and the
very identity of both countries of origin and of destination.
So far the governments of receiving countries reacted mostly
by tightening their immigration policies. Was this policy
shift successful in curbing migration flows? The answer is
no. Indeed, the flows did not vanish. Nevertheless tight immigration
policies did accomplish something: They shifted the balance
from regular to irregular immigration. The growing multitude
of foreigners living in the shadow is then the byproduct of
such policies.
However, living in the shadow likely modifies migrants' behaviour
and the related economic outcomes, something which immigration
policies usually do not account for. Such omission is partly
due to lack of knowledge about illegal migrants, obviously
not recorded in the official statistics. Moreover, obscurity
on this phenomenon unduly amplifies fear and mistrust by the
public opinion. So, even tighter policies may be chosen under
wrong premises.
The book sheds light on the causes and consequences of illegal
migration. This is accomplished by means of economic analysis
and original field survey data recently collected in Italy,
perhaps the main gateway of illegal migration to Europe. Interesting
insights are provided on the characteristics of clandestines,
on their expectations and on the main motivations for migrating
illegally. In particular, the book emphasises the economic
costs of clandestinity for all parties involved: migrants
themselves, the coutries of origin and of destination.
Clearcut implications are reached. The current state of European
migration policy is unsatisfactory. In the last chapter the
authors suggest some directions for the future. Namely, they
conclude that taking the migrants out of the shadow is the
best policy to boost the economic dividend of migration. This
regards not only the migrants themselves but also receiving
and sending countries.
Maria
Concetta Chiuri is associate professor in Economics at the University of Bari.
She holds a DPhil in Economics from the University of York
(U.K.) and a doctorate from the Catholic University of Milan.
Nicola D. Coniglio is
a lecturer in Economics at the University of Bari. He obtained
a DPhil in Economics at the University of Glasgow (U.K.) and
a doctorate at the University of Milan -Bicocca.
Giovanni Ferri is a full
professor and chairman of the Department of Economics at the
University of Bari. He was previously Principal Financial
Economist at the World Bank. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics
from New York University.
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