“…16 While anecdotal evidence on the role played by interest groups is abundant, systematic empirical analyses are scarce. The only studies in the literature, which empirically investigate the political economy of migration policy, with a specific focus on lobbying activity, are Hanson and Spilimbergo (2001), Facchini and Mayda (2008), Facchini, Mayda and Mishra (2011) and Kerr, Lincoln and Mishra (2013) (details of each paper are described in Section 2.). In particular, Facchini, Mayda and Mishra (2011) analyze the impact of lobbying activity on migration policy in the U.S. using a newly available dataset on lobbying expenditures on immigration.…”