Immigrazione ed economia sommersa nell'Europa meridionale [Immigration and underground economy in Southern Europe]

Nearly all migrants entered South European countries without a permit, which they eventually managed to obtain thanks to frequent legalisation schemes, after being employed in the underground economy at least for a while. But they were not merely pushed by crises in Third World countries and Eastern Europe. Most migrants, holding the resources to face the costs and hardships presented by unauthorised immigration, were looking to improve their circumstances and were affected by information that in South European countries it is easy to live and to make money without a permit, so that it is worth the expense and risk required to get around border checks. The underground economy, deep-rooted in South European countries, was not the effect, but the cause of a huge unauthorised immigration towards those countries. Underground economy has other negative effects on migrants' insertion in the receiving society: it prevents them from getting a permanent legal status, it contributes hugely in stigmatising foreigners and in rousing adverse attitudes against them, and, finally, it concurs in increasing deviant behaviour among migrants themselves. From a policy point of view, the paper suggests that, in order to reduce unauthorised immigration, the South European countries should put under control the underground economy, rather than borders, and should indeed open the frontiers to a sizeable and well-monitored labour immigration