🚨 New
@apsrjournal.bsky.social Paper! 🚨
In “When Migrants Mobilize against Labor Exploitation: Evidence from the Italian Farmlands,” I study how empowering undocumented migrants can reduce labor exploitation and even weaken organized crime.
Thread : 🧵
🌍 Global challenge:
27 mln people worldwide are victims of forced labor (ILO). Beyond the human rights problem, labor exploitation harms destination countries—skewing labor markets, shrinking tax revenues, and fueling criminal groups. But policy efforts to tackle it are scarce.
Dec 11, 2024 18:04My study focuses on Italy, a major European migrant hub. Starting in 2007, a union campaign provided agricultural migrant workers with:
• Info on labor rights
• Legal aid to denounce exploitation
• Incentives via humanitarian visas
How did this impact exploitation?
🤔 The broader question:
Can an intervention empower undocumented migrants to fight exploitation despite risks of retaliation, job loss, or deportation?
I argue that a mix of information and tangible incentives (like legal status) can drive costly but impactful action.
🔍 Using the staggered roll-out of the intervention, I use a DiD to assess its impact. I measured:
• 📈 News coverage of labor racketeering (validated with audits)
• ⚖️ Prosecution of criminal groups
• 🗳️ Shifts in public opinion & voting behavior
💡 Key Finding 1: Migrants mobilized.
The intervention increased news reporting on labor racketeering, driven by whistleblowing and public protests by migrants.
Evidence suggests migrants—not unions—led the change, highlighting their role as active agents of change.
💡 Key Finding 2: Organized crime weakened.
The intervention led to a significant rise in property seizures from criminal groups exploiting migrants. Empowered workers provided critical intel, enabling authorities to crack down on these networks.
💡 Key Finding 3: Broader mobilization followed.
The state and civil society became more active:
• Mafia-seized properties were repurposed into social cooperatives.
• These initiatives offered fairer working conditions for migrants.
💡 Key Finding 4: Natives’ attitudes shifted.
• Affected municipalities saw a 9% drop in anti-migrant distrust in surveys.
• Votes for pro-integration parties rose by 1–2 percentage points in both surveys and admin data, in line with increased solidarity for migrant rights.
🎯 Contributions:
1/ Undocumented migrants can be agents of change, taking action to improve their conditions.
2/ Highlighting migrants vulnerability can foster native sympathy for migrants.
3/ Empowering migrants undermines the criminal networks exploiting them.
🚀 Implications:
This study shows that empowering undocumented migrants isn’t just about rights—it reshapes labor markets, curtails organized crime, and fosters social cohesion.
A win-win for migrants and destination countries alike.
