Ethnic groups' income inequality within and across Italian regions.

The relationship between regional income inequality in Italy and the phenomenon of migration is \nstill under current debate. Policymakers and researchers worry about the process of assimilation of \nthe new entrants, in a country where regional disparities are strong. We provide evidence that \nregional income disparities apply to ethnic groups of migrants, too, like the group of nationals, but \nthe largest source of inequality is still within region and within group. We address this issue by using \nthe 2009 wave of EUSILC data and the ISTAT CVS data in 2009, the latter offering specific \ninformation on households with foreigners/migrants by main ethnic groups. We calculate several \nindexes of income inequality because of their specific sensitivity to different portions of the Italian \nincome distribution. We also estimate the main determinants of such inequality. Our results suggest \nthat, above all, women with very young children and individuals with secondary education belong to \ncategories with significantly increased income inequality, whereas those highly educated and leaving \nin the Centre-North of Italy belong to categories with reduced inequality. Regional unemployment is \nassociated to lower inequality, especially among those low-income earners, while higher relative \nmean regional income pushes inequality upwards.