The Fascist Roots of Migrant Labor Exploitation

• In Event: The Historical Political Economy of Inequality and Clientelism

Abstract

As illegal immigration from developing countries into Western Europe increases, the exploitation of illegality as a means to have a cheap labor force that lives in sub-standard conditions under the control of criminal groups has become a serious concern. What explains variation in the propensity to exploit illegal immigrants? In this paper we examine the long-term effects of fascist ideology on exploitation. We find that parts of Italy where the fascist regime (1922-1943) created new settlements in former marshlands, that were exceptionally highly exposed to Mussolini's racist propaganda about the superiority of Italians on Africans and other outsiders, are both more likely to vote for neo-fascist parties and exploit illegal immigrants over half a century later. Using a regression discontinuity design between municipalities that included and did not include settlements created by Mussolini we show that a historical shock to ideology can have long term causal effects on the treatment of immigrants.

Authors

• Gemma Dipoppa, Brown University

• Shanker Satyanath, New York University

• Mario Francesco Carillo, Brown University