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Recent Southern European migration is characterised by important flows of higher-skilled young persons. The balance between the risk of a new brain drain and brain waste and the opportunity of brain gain depends on how the young migrants integrate into the labour market of destination, the new abilities they acquire and the possibilities of re-integrating into the labour market of origin, in case of return migration. In this paper we discuss the contribution of international youth mobility to the development of human capital. We focus on the individual gain in origin countries/regions generated by circulation and return and concentrate on total human capital. Our results – based on 120 in-depth interviews conducted in Italy and Spain, in both core (Rome and Madrid) and peripheral (Apennines and Andalusia) areas, with young students and lower- and higher-skilled workers – show that both Italians and Spaniards have acquired soft skills and these informal and tacit competences are considered to be as important as formal and explicit ones. For young Italians, brain circulation predominates and the human capital gained during migration results in better employability and earnings; for young Spaniards, circulation and return are more difficult in spite of their enriched human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Italy and Spain are two countries with important migration traditions, yet very little research has been done on movements between these two Southern European countries. In this paper, the main research question concerns the determinants of migration and, in some cases, return of young Italians and Spaniards. Based on an analysis of the transcripts of 69 in-depth interviews, we survey migrants' motivations and expectations, their economic and social integration and their future plans, and thereby attempt to understand the specific features of this 'horizontal' mobility. The research results find little weight for a purely economic rationale behind the choice of Italians and Spaniards to move to the other country. What seems to be important are two factors acting in combination: (a) the 'affinity factor' between the two countries, including the relative ease of learning the language, the consequent frequency and intensity of contact with members of the host population, and the result therefore of 'feeling comfortable' during their stay abroad; (b) the lubricating effect of free movement. However, the migration relationship between the two countries is not fully reciprocal and there is one major element of asymmetry. Although experiences of social and cultural integration are positive in both cases, differences in the socio-economic context, especially the labour market and cost of living, help to explain the imbalance in the two-way flows, including returns, which is positive for Spain and negative for Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]