Italian Remittances in Great Migration Years

Emigrants’ remittances derived from that part of migrants’ income that was not consumed locally, but rather sent home. With the best available data this contribution attempts to estimate the changing volume of remittances throughout the great migration era and establish where such remittances came from and to which Italian regions they were mainly directed. Finally, it will examine whether remittances improved emigrants’ families overall living and educational standards and enhanced the economic well-being and development path of an area of departure. In particular, it will try to evaluate the productive use of remittances for the benefit of the whole area’s economic development by analysing the role of dynamic provincial banks in financing new ventures and local entrepreneurs.