Give me your young, your educated, and your talented: Explaining the international diffusion of the points immigration system

International migration, which has important consequences for the political economy among receiving and sending states, has received limited attention from international relations scholars, having been considered only in the field of public policy scholarship. My research contributes to filling this gap by explaining the global spread of the “points system”—a selective immigration instrument for targeting skilled migrants. I argue that although immigration policy is typically regarded as shaped primarily by domestic actors, the spread of the points system is a result of an interdependent, international process. In this project, I conduct a theory building exercise in which I supplement traditional domestic explanations for policy adoption with theories of diffusion. My findings, based on case studies of the United Kingdom and Germany, suggest that international learning is the mechanism driving the diffusion of the points system. This study has important implications for international relations theory since it adds to our understanding of the range of state behavior with respect to an underexplored aspect of international relations more generally, and international political economy, more specifically