My broad research area
is in political economy and comparative politics. I am specifically interested
in the intersection between international migration, development, and globalization.
Currently, I am looking at the building of emigrant institutions by sending
countries that attempt to facilitate relationships with their emigrants abroad.
I was a summer research associate at the Migration
Policy Institute in Washington, DC where
I worked on their new Migration
Information Source and projects related to migration management,
remittances and development, and internally displaced people. In July 2002,
I participated in the "International Working Group on Migration" that
consisted of high-level officials from the governments of Haiti, Mexico, and
the Philippines, and international migration academics and policy experts. We
met in Edinburg, Texas to draft a Declaration
on Migrants' Rights and States' Responsibilities that was presented
in September at the International
Metropolis Conference in Oslo, Norway. The following year, I was
a consultant for the Asian
Development Bank in Manila, Philippines for a project on remittances.
My current research is exploring why migrant-sending state institutions that
facilitate exit, voice, and loyalty from emigrants abroad have emerged in the
developing world. My other research interests include: the politics of ethnicity
and identity, transnational business networks and high-technology communities,
the role of entrepreneurship in creating innovative technologies, the role of
the state in economic development, Southeast Asian and African politics.