Da paesi vicini, democratici e non troppo poveri: l'immigrazione straniera nelle province italiane

In this work we study the determinants of international migration to Italian provinces. The Italian case is a case of particular interest given the high number of countries of origin of immigrants, the strong regional heterogeneity, the relevance and rapid growth of immigration flows. We regress data relatives to immigrants, for provenience country and province destination, on social, institutional, demographic and economic indexes; through a gravitational model we can verify both push and pull factors explaining migrations to Italy. Foreigners presence, even if rapidly grown in last years, is still relatively limited, if compared to other European countries. Most of immigrants come from democratic countries at middle income level. Considering that geographic proximity comes out as an important determinant of migratory flows, our results seem particularly interesting in the light of the uproarious events that recently characterized the South Mediterranean side.