Literature has pointed out how sending states are increasingly adopting policies to encourage emigrants to keep ties – economic, political or social – with home states. These 'emigrant policies' vary in scope and nature between different countries and include, for example, dual citizenship policies, programs to stimulate remittances, extension to the right to vote in the home country from abroad or the creation of government agencies to target emigrants. This paper presents the construction of the Emigrant Policy Index (EPI), an index that summarizes the emigrant policies developed in every state assigning a single score to every Latin American state. It goes beyond the collection of official data and involves critical review of secondary literature, as well as the input of geographic and thematic expertise. We compare two countries, Mexico and El Salvador, testing the reliability and validity of EPI.
