Some Stylized Facts on Italian Interregional Migration.

In this chapter we provide a descriptive analysis of inter-regional mobility in Italy for the period between 1992 and 2005. We use ISTAT data on the change of residence for groups of individuals according to age and education. We find evidence of two different types of migration. The first is the migration of working age individuals who respond to changes in economic conditions. The second is the return migration, which involves older cohorts of individuals, it is mainly driven by factors non-economic in nature and it is roughly constant over time. We also find that migration intensity generally increases over the period, but only for the first type of migration, while return migration, after a phase of stability, decreases in 2004 and 2005. Overall, the use of disaggregated data by age and education appears crucial for the correct identification of the determinants of migration.