Methodological Advances in the Politics of Immigration and Refugees: Part 1

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Migration intersects with many of the 21st century’s most pressing political problems, and how to draw credible inferences about the political dynamics of this complex issue requires focused scholarly attention. Specifically, the study of immigration and forced displacement poses particular methodological challenges related to identifying credible research designs and data sources. Our panel, titled "Methodological Advances in the Politics of Immigration and Refugees,” brings together researchers to advance and discuss cutting-edge methods for studying migration. Our panel includes four papers: Kirk Bansak (UCSD) and Elisabeth Paulson (Stanford) will present novel work on methods for effectively assigning refugees to locations during the refugee resettlement process. Moritz Marbach (TAMU) will present a detailed exploration of legacy studies, critiquing elements of research designs used in many recent empirical studies of immigration. Daniel Masterson (UCSB) will present a paper that formalizes and compares methods for combining multiple qualitative and quantitative data sources to estimate migration flows. Stephanie Zonszein (Penn) and Vicky Fouka (Stanford) will present a paper on how minority communities strategically respond to discrimination using community bank data to study Muslim borrowing practices after 9/11. Two scholars of the politics of migration, Alexandra Siegel (UC Boulder) and Yang-Yang Zhou (UBC), will serve as co-discussants.

Sub Unit

• Division 52: Migration & Citizenship

Individual Presentations

• Short-term Outcomes for Long-term Goals in Algorithmic Refugee Assignment - Kirk Bansak, University of California, Berkeley; Elisabeth Paulson, Stanford University

• Causal Effects, Migration and Legacy Studies - Moritz Marbach, University College London

• Improving Migration Measurement: Aggregating Multiple Imperfect Data Sources - Daniel Masterson, University of California, Santa Barbara

Chair

• Alexandra Arons Siegel University of Coloardo Boulder

Discussants

• Yang-Yang Zhou Dartmouth College

• Alexandra Arons Siegel University of Coloardo Boulder