Why bother with a long-distance relationship? Explaining models of emigrant policies in Latin American and the Caribbean

The Emigrant Policies Index (EMIX) confirms that the majority of Latin American and Caribbean states have adopted policies to create, maintain and nurture links with their non-resident citizens. However, the EMIX also reveals the existence of significant variations across countries regarding the overall adoption of emigrant policies and the policy dimensions adopted. These variations remain so far under researched. What explains, for instance, that Brazil and Mexico have a holistic policy toward their emigrants, whereas El Salvador or Cuba focus on specific emigrant policy realms? In this paper, we answer this question using the original data provided by the EMIX. First, based on the different patterns in the adoption of emigrant policies, we propose a typology of states of origin. Second, we explain the variation across countries using quantitative analyses. We include in the study common explanatory variables proposed previously in the literature on emigrant policies (e.g. remittance dependence, political regime and characteristics of the diaspora). Furthermore, we also propose new explanations for the adoption of emigrant policies based on (1) the characteristics of the non-citizen resident migrant community in the state of origin (i.e. “denizen” population), (2) the effect of supranational and regional organizations (e.g. MERCOSUR, UNASUR) and (3) the approach to migration and human mobility of the state of origin.