Going Round the World to Make the World Go Round: Three Essays on the Political Economy of International Migration

Migration is arguably the most salient topic in politics today, and migrants as a share of the world population have increased from 2.9% in 1990 to 3.6% in 2020. Despite this broad policy relevance, most scholarly attention has focused on politics in migrant destination countries. In this dissertation, I look at how migration affects countries of origin, adopting a holistic framework that conceptualizes exit, remittances, and return as separate channels through which the diaspora could influence countries of origin. I use a combination of data sources in my chapters, including individual, country, government, and sub-national level data. My papers have been accepted or are under contract with European Union Politics, Cambridge University Press, and International Studies Quarterly. Please cite these sources, not the dissertation uploaded here.