Romano Piras

INTERNAL MIGRATION ACROSS ITALIAN REGIONS: MACROECONOMIC DETERMINANTS AND ACCOMMODATING POTENTIAL FOR A DUALISTIC ECONOMY*

We provide econometric evidence that relative per capita GDP and relative unemployment rates are the main determinants of migration flows across Italian regions from 1970 to 2002. The empirical analysis is based on an accurate study of the dynamic properties of the series. In fact, we deal with the issues of non-stationarity and cointegration and estimate an error correction model in which both the short- and long-run dynamics are modelled at once. The regional unemployment rate is robustly inversely related with net regional migration rate, while per capita GDP is strongly positively linked with it. As far as the accommodating potential of internal migration to regional unbalances, we have detected very little room for such a role. Indeed, the degree of labour mobility across Italian regions cannot be active as an effective equilibrating mechanism.

Il contenuto di capitale umano dei flussi migratori interregionali: 1980-2002

In this paper we analyse the human capital endowment of migration flows across Italian regions during the period from 1980 to 2002. Our aim it to quantify the human capital embodied into migrants in order to assess how much of it has been moving from one region to another. Among the main results we have found that interregional mobility slowed down up to 1995 but has been increasing from then onwards, in addition we have also discovered that during the whole time period emigration rates are higher for graduate students, followed by higher secondary school and lower secondary school students. The main finding, however, is that we have detected evidence of human capital losses for almost all southern regions. Putting it differently these regions have suffered from a brain drain that, presumably, has reduced their growth potentials.

Migration and inbound tourism: an Italian perspective

This paper investigates the impact of migration on Italian inbound tourism flows in a dynamic panel data framework. Arrivals, expenditure and nights from 65 countries are analysed for the period 2005–2011. The migration variable is defined at both origin and destination in order to assess the pushing and pulling forces. Estimates were performed using both aggregated flows and flows disaggregated to separate the visiting friends and relatives (VFRs) from two non-VFR categories, namely holiday and business. The results suggest the presence of a strong migration-tourism nexus, which clearly goes beyond VFRs. Moreover, the effects of the different determinants vary according to the way in which the tourism market is segmented and, within each segment, to the way in which tourism demand is measured.

Government spending composition in an endogenous growth model with congestion

We build an endogenous growth model in which government expenditure is divided into public consumption and investment in public capital, and where both components suffer from some degree of congestion. We demonstrate that the socially optimal growth rate is negatively related to the degree of congestion. As regards the optimal share of government spending on infrastructure, we prove that an increase in congestion leads to a decrease in this share and that the optimal share of government spending on output can increase or decrease with congestion. In addition, we compare the social planner optimum with the second-best outcome and show that, in this second case, welfare is lower. In this framework, we derive a necessary condition, which must hold in the second-best equilibrium, involving the income tax rate and the share of government spending on public investment.

Does Internal Migration Affect Italian Domestic Tourism? A Panel Data Analysis

The authors propose a dynamic panel data investigation into the role of interregional migration in Italian domestic tourism demand, using three panel estimators characterized by different homogeneity assumptions imposed on the parameters. A standard cointegration analysis is performed before proceeding to panel regressions. The results provide ample support for a strong positive relationship between per capita domestic tourism nights and per capita internal migration stock. This evidence extends the migration—tourism nexus, already established at the international level, to the intra-national scale and reinforces the idea that host regions should not overlook the role of migration when designing their tourism policies.

Can the augmented Solow model with migration explain the Italian internal brain drain

We extend the Dolado et al. (1994) model to both inflows and outflows of migrants and assume that they have a human capital endowment that contributes to increase/decrease the stock of human capital in the receiving/sending economy. We derive the conditional convergence equation in which the impact of migration flows on the growth rate is disentangled in a pure quantity effect and in a quality or composition effect of immigration and emigration rates that accounts for the relative human capital endowment of migrants with respect to resident population. Next, we test the model with Italian regional data for the 1970–2005 time period. We find that the model provides a good explanation of the Italian experience. The quantity effect is negative for the immigration rate and positive for the emigration rate, whereas the composition effect is positive for immigration and negative for emigration. Finally, we separate the centre‐north from the south and find that the composition effect of emigration is stronger for the latter. We interpret these results as a clear evidence of a brain drain from the Mezzogiorno to the centre‐northern regions.

Growth, Congestion of Public Goods, and Second-Best Optimal Policy

This paper presents a general equilibrium endogenous growth model in which public spending is divided between public productive services and public consumption. A distinguishing feature of the model is the assumption that both components of public spending can be over used and, thus, congested by the private agents. We study the second-best dynamics of the model and prove that it is determinate. Moreover, we show that the optimal second-best policy could be not unique. Finally, the relationship between congestion and the optimal second-best policy, on the one hand, and congestion and the long run growth rate, on the other, is established.

The Solow Growth Model with Endogenous Migration Flows and Congested Public Capital

We extend the Solow growth model with human capital and migration flows by introducing public capital subjected to congestion as an essential input in the production function. This is an important novelty given that population variation induced by migration affects factors productivity and, hence, growth. We show that, in general, the impact on physical and public capital growth induced by migration is ambiguous and depends on the degree of public capital congestion. As regards the human capital growth rate, not only does it depends on the congestion externality linked to public capital, but also on the relative human capital endowment of migrants with respect to resident population. Moreover, the long-run per capita growth rate coincides with the exogenous technological progress growth rate only when public capital is not congested. In the general case in which congestion affects public capital, the long rungrowth rate differs from the traditional Solow model and could even be negative. Finally, we analyse the transitional dynamics and derive the conditional convergence equation for the growth rate of per capita income.

The relationship between immigration and tourism firms

This article investigates whether the presence of immigrants represents an opportunity for Italian tourism firms to increase the number of establishments and their employees. To this scope, we focus on the hotels and restaurants sector where a great amount of revenues comes from the tourist expenditure. The investigation is conducted at both the nationwide level and, separately, for Centre-Northern and Southern provinces. As estimation technique, in order to deal with the potential endogeneity problem, we will proceed with the two-stage least square method. The results strongly support a positive relationship between the provincial share of immigrants and the number of tourism establishments and their employees. This relationship seems to be stronger for southern provinces.