Italian migration and its demographic and socio-economic aspects. Three case studies

This doctoral thesis describes three ways in which migration is redrawing the map of Italy: where we go, where we stay, and what skills we bring with us. The first study focuses on the long-term impact of the Brexit referendum, looking not at the United Kingdom but at Italy as a starting point. My goal is to show that the uncertainty created by the 2016 vote has prompted many to change course, diverting departures to other European countries, with different effects for citizens and levels of education: not everyone reacts in the same way when the rules of the game change. In the second study, the lens zooms in on the territory: municipality by municipality, I attempt to highlight how internal mobility concentrates working-age people in metropolitan areas and leaves more peripheral areas to age more quickly, while immigration from abroad mitigates and reverses this trend, at least in part.. Finally, I propose measuring the “brain drain” not only by counting those who leave, but also those who return, those who move within the country, and those who arrive from abroad. This reveals an Italy that, overall, is not losing skills, but is seeing territorial gaps grow, with the North absorbing graduates from the South and with the fundamental contribution of young foreign immigrants. In all three studies, migration appears for what it is: a social mechanism that reallocates people and opportunities, and a public policy lever to be handled with territorial precision.