Economic development and international migration in the Sangro Valley, Abruzzo - Italy

Abstract

The Sangro Valley, the economy of which was characterised mostly by the agricultural sector until the beginning of the 1970s, experienced an industrial development from the end of that decade. It was, an «exogenous development», with a relevant presence of external enterprises within which the level of internationalisation was very high. Industrial development and the process of productive internationalisation were followed by an intense internal migratory flow and a less intense international migratory flow. The international migratory flow can be divided into two main components: (i) a large group of unskilled manpower, composed of unspecialised manual workers, usually young; (ii) a small group of highly-skilled international employees, managers and engineers. The aim of this study is to investigate the phenomenon of international migratory flows, to underline a positive correlation between the mobility of financial capital and the mobility of human capital.