In this paper we show that highly skilled undocumented migrants are more likely to return home than migrants with low or no skills when illegality causes skill waste", i.e. when illegality reduces the rate of return of individual capabilities (i.e. skills and human capital) in both the labor and...

The importance of human capital as a key source of value added, innovation and economic growth is widely acknowledged by both economists and policy-makers. Local governments can directly affect individuals’ decision making by subsidising human capital formation. The ability of a regional...

In this paper we study the allocation of time devoted to informal learning and education, i.e. those activities carried out during leisure time and outside formal education courses which boost individuals’ human and social capital. For immigrants the private investment in these activities is...

This paper examines the main determinants of linkages between foreign and domestic firms in developing countries. Based on existing evidence, we highlight the relevance of linkages generated by MNEs in developing countries and then we discuss the factors which boost or hamper the interactions...

Is international migration an adaptation strategy to sudden or gradual climatic shocks? In this paper we investigate the direct and the indirect role of climatic shocks in developing countries as a determinant of out-migration flows toward rich OECD countries in the period 1990-2001. Contrarily...

This paper aims to analyse the effect of deepening regional integration on the incentive for factors of production, in particular labour, to spatially relocate. We adopt a general equilibrium, economic-geography model built on Krugman (1991) allowing for skill heterogeneity in the manufacturing...

This paper analyses the return plans of irregular migrants by stressing the role of individual skills and network effects. We propose a simple two-period life‐cycle model that we test using individual‐level data on irregular migrants in Italy and on undocumented Mexicans in the USA. Our...

How should industrial policy be designed in developing countries? Should industrial policy be targeted to a few sectors or be more broad based and therefore more neutral? Our theoretical analysis demonstrates that access to foreign markets is key to answering this question. We show that in a...