The Formation of Return Migration Intentions: An Intra-Household Analysis of Foreign Families Residing in Italy

Sammanfattning: This study inspects the micro-determinants of return intentions for foreign nuclear families in Italy. In particular, I argue against the unitary nature of households and focus on intra-household patterns of decision-making, which have been largely neglected by previous studies. Using data from the “Statistics of Income and Living Conditions of Households with Foreigners” (Istat, 2009), I find that return intentions are indeed affected by both partners’ and their shared household’s characteristics. Analysis based on origin and regional fixed effects shows that some foreign nuclear families are target-earners complying with New Economics of Labour Migration hypotheses on return migration; yet interesting heterogeneity across spouses arises for transnational ties, which also maintain a strong crosswise effect, thus influencing the partner’s decision. The presence of daughters attending school is the strongest predictor of staying in Italy. Given the enhanced possibilities for wives and daughters, husbands display a remarkably increased propensity to settle abroad.