IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/worlde/v49y2026i1p94-117.html

Take Me Home, Country Roads: Historical Diasporas and Contemporary FDI Patterns

Author

Listed:
  • Luigi Benfratello
  • Anna D'Ambrosio
  • Carmelo Petraglia
  • Gaetano Vecchione

Abstract

We examine whether historical diasporas shape current foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, using Italian data from the ‘age of mass migration’ (1876–1925). We find that Italian regions with larger diasporas at the turn of the twentieth century maintain persistent economic ties with their historical destinations. Specifically, our gravity estimates show that greater historical diasporas are associated with larger inward and outward FDI flows between 2003 and 2015, with effect sizes that largely outweigh those of current migration. The stronger effects for taste‐sensitive functions and the complementarity with current migration point to culture and taste convergence as key mechanisms.

Suggested Citation

  • Luigi Benfratello & Anna D'Ambrosio & Carmelo Petraglia & Gaetano Vecchione, 2026. "Take Me Home, Country Roads: Historical Diasporas and Contemporary FDI Patterns," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 94-117, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:49:y:2026:i:1:p:94-117
    DOI: 10.1111/twec.70027
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.70027
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/twec.70027?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:49:y:2026:i:1:p:94-117. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0378-5920 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.