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A.I. Lopez Garcia

I am an Assistant Professor of Global Migration in the Department of Politics, and a member of both the Globalization, Transnationalism and Development (GTD) Research Group  and the Centre for Gender and Diversity (CGD) at FASoS.

My research lies at the intersection of development studies and (international) political economy, with a special interest in the topics of international labour migration and taxation. 

My work examines how connections with migrants abroad influence state capacity in origin countries, and the political attitudes and behavior and the policy preferences of those who remain, via financial remittances and return migration.

A central theme in my research is "financing development", by harnessing migrant remittances and diaspora contributions, but also by promoting tax justice and support for taxation, particularly in informal, crime- and conflict-affected, and disaster-prone economies. 

In most of my research, I use quantitative methods of analysis.

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

My research has been generously supported by 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, and Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT).

Most recently, my article "Taxing Higher Incomes in Haiti", co-authored with Prof. Dr. Sarah Berens (University of Bremen), received the Best Paper Award at the International Studies Association's 2024 Virtual Conference. The committee described it as “a timely paper that makes an excellent contribution to the study of taxation in fragile and conflict-affected states by focusing on Haiti. Not only was the paper theoretically grounded and methodologically sound, but it also offered practical policy recommendations.”

Another piece, "Migrants’ Remittances and the Fiscal Contract in Africa and Latin America", co-authored with Dr. Barry Maydom (Birkbeck College), was also featured by SAGE Publishing on their UN Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities microsite (November 2025), as part of a curated collection of research that promotes global equity and social justice.

I am currently working on projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans.

I occasionally consult for development organisations, such as WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Organizing and Mobilizing), the GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), among others.

Expertises
  • Political economy of international (labour) migration
  • Political economy of organised crime and violence
  • Political economy of taxation and redistribution
  • Political behavior in developing countries
  • Politics of 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.

Since completing my graduate studies, I have held visiting research positions at the Madrid Institute of Advanced Studies, the German Institute of Global Affairs in Hamburg, and the University of California in San Diego.

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

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