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The Dark Side of Globalisation pp 171–198Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Italian Way to Globalisation: Moving to the Dark Side—Between Irregular Migration and the Underground Economy

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Abstract

The “competitive” advantage of Italy in the global political economy seems to be increasingly represented by, first, importing cheap labour from the Global South through irregular migration attracted to the underground economy and, second, by increasing the size of the underground economy. Overall, the dark side of globalisation has deeply influenced the Italian trajectory towards (under) development. In this chapter both phenomena will be addressed with an eye on the impact that the Euro-zone crisis had on them. The first section will try to quantify the dimensions of the Italian underground economy and assess to what extent the recent events of the Euro-zone have worsened the situation. In the following section, the focus will be on the relationship between the shadow and underground economy, on the one hand, and inflows of irregular migrants, on the other. This section will point out the extent to which irregular migration may actually be a consequence of both the salience of the underground economy and the adoption of ever-stricter migration policies. Finally, conclusions will be drawn on the challenges and risks that both phenomena present to the restructuring of the Italian economy within globalisation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Source: Bühn, A., C. Montenegro, and F. Schneider (2010), ‘New estimates for the shadow economies all over the world’, International Economic Journal, 24(4): 443–461.

  2. 2.

    See http://www.euripses.eu/content/listituto-di-ricerca-degli-italiani as accessed on May 5, 2016.

  3. 3.

    See http://www.istat.it/it/archivio/175791 as accessed on May 5, 2016.

  4. 4.

    See OECD (2011), ‘Towards a better understanding of the informal economy’, by D. Andrews, A. Caldera Sánchez and A. Johansson, OECD Economics Department Working Papers no. 873, Paris: OECD.

  5. 5.

    See ISTAT (2015).

  6. 6.

    See http://www.istat.it/it/archivio/175791 as accessed on May 5, 2016.

  7. 7.

    ISTAT (2015), L’Economia non osservata nei conti nazionali-Anni 2011–2013, Rome ISTAT.

  8. 8.

    Reyneri, E. (2003), “Illegal Immigration and the Underground Economy”, ANU National Europe Centre Paper No. 68, paper presented to the conference The Challenges of Immigration and Integration in the European Union and Australia, 18–20 February 2003, University of Sydney (www.anu.edu.au/NEC/reyneri.pdf).

  9. 9.

    Reyneri, E. (2007), IMMIGRATION IN ITALY: TRENDS AND PERSPECTIVES IOM – Argo, 2007 (in print) Web-site: http://www.portalecnel.it/portale/indlavdocumenti.nsf/0/466486C57FF3FF42C125737F0050A9EC/$FILE/Reyneri-%20Immigration%20in%20Italy.pdf as accessed on May 20, 2016.

  10. 10.

    They consider an informal or underground economy as “all incoming earning activities not regulated by the state in social environments where similar activities are regulated”. The illegal economy is instead represented by those activities which are against the law. See Reyneri, E. (1999a) Immigration And The Underground Economy In New Receiving South European Countries: Manifold Negative Effects, Manifold Deep-Rooted Causes, Final Report Of The Project “Migrants’ Insertion In The Informal Economy, Deviant Behaviour And The Impact On Receiving Societies” – CE/DGXII-Science, Research And Development, Tsr Program, Contract No. Soe2-Ct95-3005, Mimeo, p. 16.

  11. 11.

    See Reyneri, E., and Baganha, M. (1999), New Migrants in South European Countries and Their Insertion in the Underground Economy, Mimeo, pp. 5–7.

  12. 12.

    ISMU (2015), Ventunesimo Rapporto sulle migrazioni 2015, Milano: Franco Angelo.

  13. 13.

    Zanfrini, L. (2015a), Il Lavoro, in ISMU (2015), Ventunesimo Rapporto sulle migrazioni 2015, Milano: Franco Angelo, pp. 103–119.

  14. 14.

    De arcangelis G., Di Porto E., and Santoni, G. (2015), Migration, Labor Tasks and Production structure, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance, Working Paper N. 390, February.

  15. 15.

    OECD (2015), International Migration Outlook 2014, OECD Publishing.

  16. 16.

    Zanfrini, L. (2015a), Tra cibo e Terra. Il lavoro immigrate nella filiera alimentare, XXIV Rapporto immigrazione 2014. Speciale Expo, Tan editrice, Todi (PG), 2015, pp. 329–358.

  17. 17.

    See Wilpert, C., and Laacher, S. (1999) New Forms Of Immigration And The Informal Labour Market In Old Receiving Countries: France And Germany, mimeo.

  18. 18.

    Baldwin-Edwards, M., and Arango, J. (1999), Immigrants and the informal economy in southern Europe, London: Frank Cass; See also Reyneri, E. (1999b), “The mass legalisation of migrants in Italy: Permanent or temporary emergence from the underground economy?”, in Baldwin-Edwards, M., and Arango, J. (1999), Immigrants and the informal economy in southern Europe, London: Frank Cass, p. 84.

  19. 19.

    See also Reyneri, E. (1999b), “The mass legalisation of migrants in Italy: Permanent or temporary emergence from the underground economy?”, in Baldwin-Edwards, M., and Arango, J. (1999), Immigrants and the informal economy in southern Europe, London: Frank Cass, p. 84.

  20. 20.

    Reyneri (1999a), p. 21.

  21. 21.

    Ibid., pp. 20–22.

  22. 22.

    See also Reyneri, E. (1999b), “The mass legalisation of migrants in Italy: Permanent or temporary emergence from the underground economy?”, in Baldwin-Edwards, M., and Arango, J. (1999), Immigrants and the informal economy in southern Europe, London: Frank Cass, p. 88.

  23. 23.

    See also Zincone, G. (1999), “Illegality, enlightenment and ambiguity: a Hot Italian Recipe”, in Baldwin-Edwards, M., and Arango, J. (1999), Immigrants and the informal economy in southern Europe, London: Frank Cass, pp. 43–83.

  24. 24.

    See Reyneri (1999a), p. 24.

  25. 25.

    Ibid.

  26. 26.

    Ibid., p. 25.

  27. 27.

    Ibid., p. 21.

  28. 28.

    See Rowlands, D. (1998) “Poverty And Environmental Degradation As Root Causes Of International Migration: A Critical Assessment”, In Un-Iom, Technical Symposium On International Migration And Development, The Hague, 29 June–3 July 1998, Mimeo.

  29. 29.

    Valtolina, G.G. (2015), Gli Italiani e l’Immigrazione: atteggiamenti ed orientamenti, in ISMU (2015), p. 151.

  30. 30.

    Ibid., p. 26.

  31. 31.

    See Palidda et al. (1999), pp. 123–183.

  32. 32.

    See Reyneri (1999a), p. 26.

  33. 33.

    See Latest Developments With Alemanno In Rome And New Proposals About Romanians And Roms. Corriere Romano (2008), Immigrazione e campi Rom, 30 Aprile 2008.

  34. 34.

    See Reyneri (1999a), p. 27.

  35. 35.

    Ibid.

  36. 36.

    Ibid.

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  1. King’s College London, London, UK

    Leila Simona Talani

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Talani, L.S. (2019). The Italian Way to Globalisation: Moving to the Dark Side—Between Irregular Migration and the Underground Economy. In: Talani, L.S., Roccu, R. (eds) The Dark Side of Globalisation. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05117-4_7

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