Harnessing the Diaspora

Date: 

Monday, November 2, 2009 (All day)

Location: 

124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge, MA

The Political Economy of Expatriate Dual Citizenship

David Leblang, University of Virginia

About the Seminar
Professor David Leblang will discuss the causes and consequences of dual citizenship rights as they apply to expatriates. Arguing that migrant networks provide sending/home countries with access to global capital pools, he will demonstrate that the provision of dual citizenship helps home countries harness the financial and human capital of their diasporas. His seminar will assess the implications by examining the linkage between migration, dual citizenship and flows of foreign economic aid, portfolio investment, and remittances. He will also provide some evidence that dual citizenship increases the likelihood that migrants will express an intention to return to their home country and will discuss the rise in national policies providing for dual citizenship rights.

You can watch an introductory video here.

About David Leblang
David Leblang, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, 1993, is the J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance and Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, having taught previously at the University of Colorado and the College of William and Mary. He has served as a research fellow at the International Monetary Fund and at the Directorate of Economics and Finance of the European Commission.

About the Democracy Seminar Series
The Democracy Seminar Series brings distinguished speakers to Harvard Kennedy School for the academic year to address critical challenges facing democratic governance.