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Immigration, Amnesties and the Shadow Economy

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  • Emanuele Bracco
  • Luisanna Onnis

Abstract

This paper explores the link between the shadow economy and immigration. We per- form an empirical analysis on a newly compiled dataset of Italian immigration and shadow economy estimates for the years 1995-2006, also exploiting the discontinuity created by the 2002 Italian immigration reform, which granted legal status to almost 700,000 illegal immigrants. Our data comprise local aggregate statistical information on the labour market and the economy, and a repeated cross section of households sur- veyed by the Bank of Italy. We find a robust positive relationship between the presence of immigrants and the shadow economy. This link is substantially weakened by the 2002 amnesty.

Suggested Citation

  • Emanuele Bracco & Luisanna Onnis, 2015. "Immigration, Amnesties and the Shadow Economy," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 418, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    • Handle: RePEc:cca:wpaper:418
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    Cited by:

    1. Carmen Camacho & Fabio Mariani & Luca Pensieroso, 2017. "Illegal immigration and the shadow economy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(6), pages 1050-1080, December.
    2. Carmen Camacho & Fabio Mariani & Luca Pensieroso, 2018. "Dealing with Illegal Immigration: the Role of Informality, Taxation and Trade," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2018007, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    3. Mutascu Mihai & Hegerty Scott W., 2022. "The role of refugees in the underground economy of the European Union," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Shadow Economy; Immigration; Immigration Policies; Amnesties;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • K37 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Immigration Law

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