WI;19. century europian state xy bans/does not allow emigration to americas ?

Let's say any country of 19th century Europe, but mostly Italy comes to mind. Was there any way for her to remedy the economic reasons behind it in the first place and political instabilities, but more importantly, what would be the consequences of closing the ports to potentional emigrants and telling them to stay put?

- Wikipedia says "all people of italian ancestry" almost number 150 mil. Modern Italy with 100 mil at least would be a true force indeed.
 
There were various attempts OTL to prevent emigration, especially by skilled workers. Venice sequestered glassblowers on an island and threatened them with death if they tried to leave, according to Chua's "Day of Empire."

I don't think it was really effective in the long run. :)
 
Emigration was a safety valve for much of Europe at that time. The most ambitious, frustrated people would leave. Forcing them to stay would mean a lot more potential revolutionaries and radical politics. It also means there are a lot more mouths to feed. Some kind of outlet is needed.

A total ban on emigration would be tough to implement. You are basically not allowing any freedom of movement. If you don't allow passenger ships to arrive in Italy, but France does, then the Italians just need to cross into France and leave from there.
 
It does go both against practical politics - much of Europe was going through a population explosion and had neither room nor jobs for all those people - and against cherished beliefs. For one thing, people were much more terrifoied by Malthus than they were hopeful for a bright physiocratic future. Also, nineteenth-century Europeans may not have favoured freedom of foreigners to move to their countries, but they were in favour of freedom of movement in principle. Most states would simply have lacked the infrastructure to implement such a ban, and even though the purpose might not have been too controversial in principle, putting in place that kind of control mechanisms would have made people nervous in many places. Keep in mind, this is a time when North Germans routinely move to the Netherlands or Britain for a few years of paid employment before going home to start families, men from Schleswig-Holstein switch from Danes to Austrians to Prussians while captaining Dutch ships in the Indies, Belgians and Italians cross into France for seasonal labour, and Paris is crawling with German democrats and Russian anarchists. Border controls are - un-European, you might say. Despotic.

And I think the word for an Italy of 100 million people in 1900 would be "famine-ridden". The country had serious local food crises even with the safety valve of emigration.
 
Well, The French introduced some sort of "allowance" system to sway people to stay in France and Germany restricted emigration of its militarily able young men.
 
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