Migration, exports and capital: what is the impact of ghettos on local firms?

This paper investigates the effects of migration on the export and production techniques of agri-industrial firms in the proximity of clusters of migrants. The analysis draws on an original dataset built through interviews conducted with agri-food firms in the Foggia province (southern Italy). Over the past two decades, this area has experienced a strong influx of migrants, who have concentrated in ghettos. The results do not support a pro-trade effect, but provide evidence for both a substitution and a complementarity effect of migrants on capital endowment, depending on the type of machinery used by the firm.