Latin American Immigration as a Determinant of US Foreign Aid Allocation (2015)

Undergraduate: Anna Roberson

Faculty Advisor: Layna Mosley
Department: Political Science

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This research investigates US foreign aid to Latin America in the years 1991-2012. All else equal, I consider the role of Latin American immigration as an additional factor in foreign aid allocation. I argue that because migrants often move in search of economic improvement, and because foreign aid is believed to be able to improve the economic situation in recipient countries, policy-makers allocate more aid to immigrant-sending countries as a way to curb migration to the US. Through statistical analysis as well as archival research of Congressional Hearings and a series of elite interviews, I find that immigration from Latin America to the US leads to increases in US aid to the immigrant sending country, especially in low-income recipient nations and in the second half of the years sampled.