Multinational Corporate Networks and the Diffusion of Skill-Selective Immigration Policies Vivienne Born University of Pennsylvania, [email protected]

University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2019 Getting The Best Of Us: Multinational Corporate Networks And The Diffusion Of Skill-Selective Immigration Policies Vivienne Born University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the International Relations Commons, and the Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons Recommended Citation Born, Vivienne, "Getting The Best Of Us: Multinational Corporate Networks And The Diffusion Of Skill-Selective Immigration Policies" (2019). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 3359. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3359 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3359 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Getting The Best Of Us: Multinational Corporate Networks And The Diffusion Of Skill-Selective Immigration Policies Abstract Populist backlash has emerged as an alarming trend shaping immigration policy across the developed world in recent years. At the same time, a less-sensationalized pattern has appeared in the form of policies designed to attract the highly skilled. In the face of so much anti-immigration sentiment, how can we understand this push for global talent? One possibility is that these seemingly divergent agenda are but two sides of the same coin. Policymakers and members of the business community point to labor shortages and a global war for talent as justifications for skill-selective policies. Yet some in the academic community contest that the evidence for these concerns is lacking. This gives rise to a two-pronged question. Is there really a competition between states? And how can we understand the role of corporations in advancing the international mobility of the highly skilled? This dissertation offers a theory of the multinational corporation (MNC) as the instrument of international policy diffusion. It explores the preferences and incentives that shape the behaviors of individuals, policymakers and firms and demonstrates that there is a window of political space within which firms have an opportunity to advance a skill-selective compromise. To test this theory, two original datasets are introduced, the first tracking policies targeting highly skilled migrants from 1980-2017 and the second following the expansion of MNC subsidiary locations over time. Using spatial regression analysis and case study evidence, this project finds considerable support for the idea that MNCs act as agents of international policy diffusion with regard to skill-selective immigration policies. The am jor contribution of this dissertation is its contention that the geographic structure of the multinational firm alters the firm’s strategic incentives and political activity, making it organizationally unique from the single-nation firm and connecting MNC incentives with policy diffusion. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Political Science First Advisor Beth Simmons Keywords Corporate Political Activity, Diffusion, Immigration Policy, International Political Economy, Multinational Corporation, Skilled Immigration Subject Categories International Relations | Organizational Behavior and Theory | Political Science This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3359 GETTING THE BEST OF US: MULTINATIONAL CORPORATE NETWORKS AND THE DIFFUSION OF SKILL-SELECTIVE IMMIGRATION POLICIES Vivienne Born A DISSERTATION in Political Science Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2019 Supervisor of Dissertation Beth Simmons, Andrea Mitchell University Professor of Law and Political Science Graduate Group Chairperson Alex Weisiger, Associate Professor of Political Science Dissertation Committee Edward D. Mansfield, Hum Rosen Professor of Political Science Julia Gray, Associate Professor of Political Science Daniel Hopkins, Professor of Political Science GETTING THE BEST OF US: MULTINATIONAL CORPORATE NETWORKS AND THE DIFFUSION OF SKILL-SELECTIVE IMMIGRATION POLICIES Copyright © 2019 Vivienne Born This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License To view a copy of this license, visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us ACKNOWLEDGMENT Research for this dissertation was assisted by funding from the Browne Center for International Politics, the Charles Koch Foundation, and the Perry World House1 (thank you in particular to Mike Horowitz and John Gans for bringing me in to the Perry World House family and for all your help and advice). First, I offer profound gratitude to my dissertation committee members, whose varied interests and mentoring styles benefitted me greatly. As far as dissertations go, this one was slow to get off the ground, and Julia Gray more often than not became my sounding board. She listened to countless iterations of meandering ideas but managed to continue to summon enthusiasm for each new memo I sent her. Without Julia’s help and confidence in me, this project would never have come together. Ed Mansfield was frequently my much-needed reality check. As I collected data and did background research, I would regularly identify a small problem and become distracted by it, so that by the time I met with Ed I’d be convinced that it undermined the whole enterprise. Ed would listen to the full breadth of my mournful rambling and then nod and tell me that I should probably make a footnote about it. On top of his ability to keep me grounded, Ed was a real source of emotional support. In one meeting, during which I must have seemed unusually discouraged, he told me, “You know, it’s not my job to be your cheerleader. But it kind of is.” Dan Hopkins was a voice of exceptional clarity and insight on my data presentation and analysis. Once I’d finished compiling my data and started trying to visualize them, Dan was able to glance at the pages of figures and graphs I handed him and tell me immediately how to make them more interesting and informative. Finally, Beth Simmons, who chaired my committee, has been the best and most encouraging provider of feedback I’ve ever known. She has an incredible ability to look at a muddled idea and draw out the scaffolding of something interesting and viable. Much of what is good and rigorous about this dissertation I owe to Beth. Before and during the dissertation stage, many in Penn’s Political Science Department beyond my committee members have offered me welcome advice and encouragement, including Ryan Brutger, Alex Weisiger, Michael Jones-Correa, Guy Grossman, Jessica Stanton, and Marc Meredith. In addition, the graduate students in the department have proven to be an inexhaustible well of help and comradery. Within my cohort, I am especially indebted to Patricia Posey, Victoria Gilbert, Jeremy Springman, Julia Cramer, and Patrick O’Halloran, who spent the last six years studying with me, teaching with me, 1 While these three organizations provided financial support for this project, none exerted influence over the subject matter or the direction of the research. iii panicking with me and celebrating with me. Max Margulies, Shira Pindyck, Will Piekos, Nicky Bell, Keith Carter, Chris Liu, and Chris Chiego are also exceptional sympathizers and banterers, and have kept me sane over the course of the dissertation years. Finally, the people I most wish to acknowledge are my family, both biological and elective. My parents, whose strength, brilliance, and ability to find me funny lift me up every day. My sister—you are my sunlight and determination, my best friend. Rita and Ray, my second parents, who have come to worry for me and rejoice with me as if they were my own. And their son, Scott, my partner in all things. Six years ago, you and I moved together from Boulder to Philadelphia, and in a few months we will leave this city too. You are so weird and so wonderful. You make it all worthwhile; this dissertation is dedicated to you. iv ABSTRACT GETTING THE BEST OF US Vivienne Born Beth Simmons Populist backlash has emerged as an alarming trend shaping immigration policy across the developed world in recent years. At the same time, a less-sensationalized pattern has appeared in the form of policies designed to attract the highly skilled. In the face of so much anti-immigration sentiment, how can we understand this push for global talent? One possibility is that these seemingly divergent agenda are but two sides of the same coin. Policymakers and members of the business community point to labor shortages and a global war for talent as justifications for skill-selective policies. Yet some in the academic community contest that the evidence for these concerns is lacking. This gives rise to a two- pronged question. Is there really a competition between states? And how can we understand the role of corporations in advancing the international mobility of the highly skilled? This dissertation offers a theory of the multinational corporation (MNC) as the instrument of international policy diffusion. It explores the preferences and incentives that shape the behaviors of individuals, policymakers and firms and demonstrates that there is a window of political space within which firms have an opportunity to advance a skill- selective compromise. To test this theory, two original datasets are introduced, the first tracking

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