We present the theoretical framework and the results of a pilot survey conducted in Calabria, a region in the south of Italy, to investigate the prevalence of two sensitive characteristics, namely induced abortion among foreign women residing in this region, and irregular immigrant status. Collecting data on these two attributes by means of traditional survey modes typically produces underestimates of the diffusion of the phenomena due to the stigmatizing nature of the investigated topics. In order to overcome this problem, we employ an alternative data collection method known as the Randomized\ud Response Technique. In particular, we focus on the implementation of the crossed model recently proposed by Lee et al. (Stat Probab Lett 83:399–409, 2013) to estimate two sensitive characteristics and some related measures of association

The Internet has revolutionized our economies, societies, and everyday lives. Many social phenomena are no longer the same as they were in the pre-Internet era: they have been "Internetized." We define the Internetization of international migration, and we investigate it by exploring the links between the Internet and migration outcomes all along the migration path, from migration intentions to actual migration. Our analyses leverage a number of sources, both at the micro-and the macro-level, including the Gallup World Poll, the Arab Barometer, data from the International Telecommunication Union, the Italian population register, and unique register data from a migrant reception center in Southern Italy. We also distinguish between economic migrants-those who leave their country of origin with the aim of seeking better economic opportunities elsewhere-and political migrants-those who are forced to leave their countries of origin for political or conflict-related reasons. Our findings point to a consistently positive relationship between the diffusion of the Internet, migration intentions, and migration behaviors, supporting the idea that the Internet is not necessarily a driving force of migration per se, but rather an enabling "supportive agent." These associations are particularly relevant for economic migrants, at least for migration intentions. Further analyses underscore the importance of the Internet in providing a key informational channel which helps to define clearer migration trajectories.

We investigate the role of culture in explaining economic outcomes at individual level analyzing how cultural values from the home country affect the decision to work of immigrants in Italy. Following the ‘epidemiological approach’, we relate the probability of being in the labor force in Italy for immigrant women with the female labor force participation (LFP) in their country of origin, taken as a proxy of cultural heritage and gender role model, finding a strong positive impact. We show that this relationship cannot be attributed to human capital quality or discrimination and it is stronger for immigrants that maintained more intense ties with their origin countries.

This article investigates the determinants of remittance behaviours among foreigners in Italyand intends to gain a better understanding of the temporal pattern of remittances. The analysisis based on data from the 2009 “Italian Statistics on Income and Living Conditions of House-holds with Foreigners”. The decisions on whether to remit and how much to remit are sepa-rately yet simultaneously estimated using a zero-inflated beta regression model. The findingsreveal that remittances are driven by a mix of altruistic and self-interest motives that may per-sist for many years. Many covariates included in the model have a different effect on thepropensity to remit and on the relative amount of remittances. We find some evidence that theaverage propensity to remit follows an M-shaped trajectory over time. However, the modelspecification including only time and time squared proves that the inverted-U shape trajectory,well-established in the literature, still remains a better choice in terms of parsimoniousness andflexibility. Among those who remit, time since migration does not have any significant effecton the normalized amount remitted

No abstract