Does international migration contribute to the spread of global commerce? Recent work demonstrates the relevance of international migration for patterns of investment, focusing on migrants’ role in facilitating investment from their host country to their country of origin. By contrast, we investigate the potential for migrants to attract inward investment into their host country. As customers, migrants shape the composition of the market in the country where they live, such that global networks of migrants can shape investment decisions of co-national firms. Focusing on a single sector, banking, we identify the mechanisms by which international migration attracts foreign investment. First, migrants may prefer home country banks, especially if they are excluded from financial services in their host country. Second, migrants require financial institutions to send remittances to their country of origin. We test these arguments using a global sample of foreign bank ownership data and find that bilateral migrant networks are a predictor of cross-border banking investment. These findings speak to how the composition of markets affects international investment, as well as the reinforcing relationship between two features of globalization: international migration and financial integration.

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移民作为金融全球化的引擎：全球银行业案例

国际移民是否有助于全球商业的传播？最近的工作证明了国际移民与投资模式的相关性，重点关注移民在促进从东道国到原籍国投资方面的作用。相比之下，我们调查了移民吸引外来投资进入东道国的潜力。作为客户，移民塑造了他们所居住国家的市场构成，因此全球移民网络可以塑造跨国公司的投资决策。我们专注于银行业这一单一部门，确定了国际移民吸引外国投资的机制。首先，移民可能更喜欢母国银行，特别是如果他们被排除在东道国的金融服务之外。第二，移民要求金融机构向其原籍国汇款。我们使用外国银行所有权数据的全球样本测试这些论点，发现双边移民网络是跨境银行投资的预测因素。这些发现说明了市场构成如何影响国际投资，以及全球化的两个特征之间的强化关系：国际移民和金融一体化。