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A.I. Lopez Garcia

About

I am an Assistant Professor of Global Migration. I study how connections with migrants abroad influence state capacity in origin countries, and shape the political attitudes, behaviour, and policy preferences of those who stay behind.

Research

My work asks questions such as how migrant remittances, when used to finance public services, influence tax attitudes and compliance in migrant-sending countries, and how exposure to public good provision in host countries shapes the public spending preferences of returning migrants and their families.

A central theme of my research is "financing development". I study how governments can fund public goods by mobilising migrant remittances and diaspora contributions, as well as fair taxation.

I also examine how other non-state actors, including foreign donors and criminal organisations, provide or obstruct public goods in developing countries.

My work focuses on informal economies and on contexts affected by organised crime, armed conflict, and natural disasters.

I am currently working on projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans. In most of my research, I employ quantitative methods of analysis. 

Publications

My work has appeared in journals such as World Development, Journal of Development Studies, Development and Change, Comparative Political Studies, Political Studies,  Studies in Comparative International Development, Development Policy Review, Policing and Society, Oxford Development Studies, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Migration Studies, Comparative Migration Studies, Global Networks, International Migration, Latin American Politics & Society and Journal of Politics in Latin America.

Funding

My research has been generously supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD), the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the Zukunftskolleg at the University of Konstanz, FASoS, Open Science Maastricht, and Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT).

Service and Engagement 

I am an Associate Editor at Research in Globalization (Elsevier), and the co-organiser of the Organised Crime Group section of the Latin American Political Science Association (ALACIP). I occasionally consult for development organisations.

Expertises
  • Political economy of international (labour) migration
  • Political economy of taxation and redistribution
  • Global social policy
  • Political economy of organised crime and violence
  • Political behavior in developing countries
  • Latin America and the Caribbean
  • Survey research 
Career history

I hold an undergraduate degree in International Relations from Mexico's Autonomous Institute of Technology (ITAM), and an MPhil in Latin American Studies at St. Antony's College, Oxford University, and a DPhil in Politics (Comparative Government) at Nuffield College, Oxford University.

Prior to Maastricht, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Konstanz.

I have held visiting research positions at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) in Bonn, the Madrid Institute of Advanced Studies (MIAS), the German Institute of Global Affairs (GIGA) in Hamburg, and the University of California in San Diego.

Since 2018, I am a member of Mexico's National System of Researchers  (SNI - Level I)