Experts

David Leblang

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 a professor of public policy at the University's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He holds courtesy appointments at UVA’s School of Data Science and in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Jewish Studies Program.

Leblang specializes in the international political economy and has written extensively on international migration, global financial markets, and international economic crises. He is currently working on projects that connect globalization, AI exposure, migration, and democracy, both globally and across U.S. history. His work has appeared in prominent outlets such as the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, International Organization, World Politics, and Economics and Politics. He has published two books, The Ties that Bind: Immigration and the Global Political Economy (with Benjamin Helms) and Democratic Processes and Financial Markets: Pricing Politics (with William Bernhard).

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 and in the European Commission's Directorate of Economics and Finance, and 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 received the Outstanding Faculty Mentoring Award from 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.
 

David Leblang News Feed

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
UVA has named 28 men and women to a committee tasked with finding its future 10th president.
David Leblang The Daily Progress
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
For 50 years, the Miller Center has convened bipartisan groups of scholars and practitioners to enrich scholarly research and help shape public policy. Join us for a roundtable discussion on public policy in three critical areas: healthcare, national security, and executive branch reform. Each policy area will feature an historian paired with an experienced government practitioner to discuss perspectives on responsible and effective public policy.
David Leblang, Bob Strong, Marc Selverstone, Rachel Potter, Guian McKee, and Mara Rudman Miller Center Presents
JD Vance's false claims about Haitian immigrants have incited threats of violence
University of Virginia students
“This is one area where, again, you've heard Republicans and Democrats who have said, ‘Yeah, we need to do something for these kids who are not kids anymore,’” Leblang said. “It wasn't their choice to come here. And if they've been here and they have contributed — they've gone to school, all the things that were in the original executive order — to me, that's pretty low hanging fruit.”
David Leblang VPM