Experts

David Leblang

Randolph P. Compton Professor
Leblang CV_2025_0.pdf

Fast Facts

  • Randolph P. Compton Professor and director of policy research at the Miller Center
  • Studies global migration and international investment and the spread of democracy
  • Expertise in international political economy, politics, economic policy, financial crises

Areas Of Expertise

  • Foreign Affairs
  • Immigration
  • Economic Issues
  • Finance and Banking
  • Trade
  • Political Parties and Movements

David Leblang is the Miller Center's Randolph P. Compton Professor and director of policy research. He is also the Ambassador Henry J. Taylor and Mrs. Marion R. Taylor Endowed Professor of Politics and professor of public policy at the University's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.

A scholar in the area of international political economy, he is currently working on two major projects. The first is a book-length study of the role that global migration plays in linking host and home countries and how these linkages help explain observed patterns of international investment, remittance flows, and the spread of democracy. The second project is related but focuses on the destination choices of refugees and illegal migrants. Prior to studying flows of migrants and refugees, Leblang's projects were in the area of global capital flows: the causes and consequences of exchange rate arrangements, capital controls, and currency crises. His work has been published in outlets such as the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, International Organization, World Politics and Economics and Politics. He currently serves on the steering committee of the International Political Economy Society and is the editor of SSRN's International Political Economy Migration eJournal.

Prior to arriving at the University of Virginia in 2008, Leblang held teaching positions at the University of Colorado, the University of North Texas, and the College of William and Mary. He has been a visiting scholar in the research department of the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission's Directorate of Economics and Finance, and has been a visiting fellow at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, the Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano in Milan, and the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. In 2015, Leblang was awarded the Outstanding Faculty Mentoring Award by the University of Virginia and in 2016 he received the Outstanding Mentoring Award from the Society of Women in International Political Economy of the International Studies Association.

Featured Publications

Ties That Bind
The Ties That Bind

David Leblang (co-author)

David Leblang News Feed

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In this classroom, they trade keyboards for conversation
In professor David Leblang’s Politics of Immigration course, the usual chorus of clicking keyboards is nonexistent. Instead, you hear the soft scratch of pencils and pens as Leblang guides students through the complexities of human migration.
David Leblang UVA Today
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What the Trump Administration means by “remigration”
By multiple measures—including the use of civilizational framing, explicit demographic objectives, and terminology borrowed from far-right movements—the Trump administration’s approach appears to transform American immigration policy discourse away from security and towards radical nativism.
David Leblang Notes from the Miller Center
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Fifty years of the Miller Center: Shaping history, policy and dialogue
David Leblang, Director of Policy Studies at the Miller Center, analyzes how the Center has remained a nonpartisan institution during a particularly divisive time in politics. He delves into the various programs, events and policy proposals associated with the Center, and how they are making an impact at UVA and beyond.
David Leblang The Cavalier Daily
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Reid’s tenure as registered foreign agent faces fresh scrutiny in lieutenant governor bid
David Leblang, the Randolph Compton professor of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, said Qorvis has a history of representing foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
David Leblang Virginia Mercury
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28-person committee set to determine next UVa president
UVA has named 28 men and women to a committee tasked with finding its future 10th president.
David Leblang The Daily Progress
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Local economies under pressure as ICE crackdowns create climate of fear
President Barack Obama, whom immigrants rights advocates labeled the “deporter in chief,” recorded 5.3 million removals during his two terms. There were subtle effects on the economy because immigration arrests also occurred at worksites during those years, said David Leblang, a professor of politics and public policy at the University of Virginia. The difference is that enforcement focused on people with felony convictions, he said, while the current campaign is targeting anyone without legal status.
David Leblang The Washington Post