ESSAYS ON INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION

This dissertation studies the economic implications of international migration for receiving countries. It investigates, on the one hand, the close interplay between citizens' attitudes towards international migration, the media coverage of politicians and politicians' accountability in the formation of migration policies, and, on the other hand, the international transferability of human capital and immigrant performance in the host country labor market. After a review of the main literature on how immigration impacts the receiving country by affecting the broad demographic trends, public finances and the demand and supply of health care (Chapter 1), the investigation focuses on international migration and the destination country sentiment towards immigrants, which may affect the behavior of politicians in the design of migration policies (Chapter 2). Finally, chapter 3 focuses on immigration in Italy and the transferability of immigrants' human capital in the Italian labor market, investigating the profile of immigrants' returns to education and of immigrant-native wage differentials over time.