David Kyle

Position Title

Associate Professor

Sociology

2265 Social Science and Humanities Building

David Jané Kyle teaches sociology at the University of California at Davis, and holds a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University. Considered a global expert on human smuggling and trafficking, his work concerns why and how people move across state borders, pioneering work on transnational migration and entrepreneurship, and more recently a new emphasis on cognitive migration in mobility studies based on the prospective social imagination and the cognitive social sciences. His current project examines the narrative stories and historical ideologies of creativity, talent, and merit around the theme of buried talent at work.

David Kyle has taught jazz piano privately for nine years and performs with improvisational musical groups.

David Kyle's content

David Kyle Featured in PolitiFact Article

April 13, 2021

David Kyle Featured in the Los Angeles Times and NBC Sand Diego

March 10, 2021

David Kyle Interviewed on the Border Wall by CNN

November 04, 2019

Professor David Kyle was recently interviewed about the border wall by CNN.

MRC Faculty Symposium

August 21, 2018

In the MRC Faculty Symposium, the associates of the research cluster will present their research in a compact and thought-provoking way. They will touch economic, social, legal, and political themes linked to migration as well as historical and human-cultural ways of looking at this phenomenon.

The Risky Business of Transformation: Social Enterprise in Myanmar’s Emerging Democracy

October 24, 2017

John Dale and David Kyle // October 23rd, 2017 // Cambridge University Press

David Kyle interviewed by CNN International regarding migrant deaths

September 26, 2017

CNN International and Headline News (HNN) interviewed Kyle on live television concerning migrant deaths in the back of a San Antonio Truck as part of a failed smuggling operation.

Smart Transitions?: Foreign Investment, Disruptive Technology, and Democratic Reform in Myanmar

July 18, 2017

John Dale (Geroge Mason University) and David Kyle // Summer 2015 // Social Research

Imagining Mobility: The Prospective Cognition Question in Migration Research

July 18, 2017

Saara Koikkalainen (University of Lapland) and David Kyle // November 11th, 2015 // Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

Migration Industries: A Comparison of the Ecuador-US and Ecuador-Spain Cases

July 18, 2017

David Kyle and Rachel Goldstein // 2011 // EU-US Immigration Systems

Mobility Creativity Nexus

June 29, 2017

This one-day conference will look at the role of mobility in creativity as an economic driver and creativity as a disruptive force driving both planned and unplanned mobility.

Capitalizing Humans: Mobility, Creativity, and the Knowledge Management Paradox

June 28, 2017

This paper describes two of the most significant cases of migration industries facilitating large-scale labor migrations from Ecuador to first, New York City and, then, Spain.

The Global Market of Unskilled Labor: A Research Conference

June 23, 2017

This conference aims to stimulate research and discussion on the formation, dynamics, and consequences of the participation of migrants in the emerging global informal economy; as well as the economic, political, and social implications that such participation presents for migrant receiving and sending societies.

Smart Humanitarianism: Re-imagining Human Rights in the Age of Enterprise

April 22, 2016

John Dale, & David Kyle // July 27th, 2016 // Critical Sociology

David Kyle published in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies for research with Saara Koikkalainen

December 11, 2015

This research paper, entitled, "Imagining Mobility: The Prospective Cognition Question in Migration Research,” focus on how impirical researchers can benefit from studying how cognitive migration influences migration behavior.

Inverse Productivity or Inverse Efficiency? Evidence from Mexico

December 03, 2015

Authors: Justin Kagin, J. Edward Taylor & Antonio Yúnez-Naude. Using a unique panel data set from rural Mexico, they find strong evidence of a negative relationship between farm size and both productivity and technical efficiency: large farms not only have a lower value of output per hectare than small farms, they also produce further from the efficiency frontier.

David Kyle discusses global refugee crisis on "Scholar’s Circle” with Maria Armoudian, a syndicated radio program

October 08, 2015

In a Scholar's Circle panel, hosted by Maria Armoudian, Professor David Kyle discussed the crisis of global refugees, displaced by wars and persecution.

David Kyle published article on Myanmar in special edition of Social Research

September 08, 2015

Content by David Kyle

David Kyle Featured in PolitiFact Article

David Kyle Featured in the Los Angeles Times and NBC Sand Diego

David Kyle Interviewed on the Border Wall by CNN

MRC Faculty Symposium

Nov 2, 2018

International Center, Room 3119 | UC Davis

The Risky Business of Transformation: Social Enterprise in Myanmar’s Emerging Democracy

Author(s)

John Dale and David Kyle

Published in

Cambridge University Press

Publication Date

October 23, 2017

Social enterprises – businesses that trade for a social or environmental purpose – have been gaining currency in the United Kingdom, the United States and many countries of Southeast Asia as well. This chapter examines the emerging social enterprise sector in Myanmar, which is poised to expand in the wake of the country’s democratic political transition. Increasingly, international development institutions and investors embrace the notion that social enterprises can play an important role in promoting social inclusion and reducing inequality. The collective consensus is that a thriving social enterprise sector might serve as a democratising force in Myanmar. However, the relationship between social enterprise and democracy remains unclear, even where it thrives outside Myanmar. Can social enterprise thrive in societies with weak democratic institutions? And if not, what kinds of basic democratic safeguards are necessary for a sustainable social enterprise sector that might, in turn, strengthen existing democratic institutions and contribute to the creation of new ones?

Downloads

Paper

David Kyle interviewed by CNN International regarding migrant deaths

Smart Transitions?: Foreign Investment, Disruptive Technology, and Democratic Reform in Myanmar

Author(s)

John Dale (Geroge Mason University) and David Kyle

Published in

Social Research: An International Quarterly Volume 82, Number 2 (2015).

Publication Date

July 20, 2015

Abstract:
Smart Transitions? Foreign Investment, Disruptive Technology, and Democratic Reform in Myanmar Since 2012, Myanmar has transformed from a “pariah state” and one of the world’s least attractive business climates to a “frontier economy” transitioning to a democratic form of government and attracting foreign direct investment from around the world. Driving this new investment is a transnational vision of economic development that seeks to transform Myanmar’s emerging megacity (Yangon) into a “smart city,” incorporating it into the existing transnational archipelago of other smart-city development projects fueling the growth of today’s global, knowledge-capitalist economy. If realized, this vision will undermine Myanmar’s democratic transition because it exacerbates existing sources of inequality, and introduces new ones.

Christina Fink “Myanmar’s Proactive National Legislature” Myanmar’s first multiparty national legislature in 50 years has played an influential role in shaping the country’s reform process and the evolving relationship between citizens and their government. Parliamentarians have used a variety of means to expand their mandate and weigh in on key issues. They have accomplished much more than expected in terms of representation, legislative performance, executive oversight, and constituency services. This is due to the dynamic leadership of key figures in parliament, the tolerance up to a point of senior administration and military personnel, and the effective engagement of civil society organizations.

Imagining Mobility: The Prospective Cognition Question in Migration Research

Author(s)

Saara Koikkalainen (University of Lapland) and David Kyle

Published in

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Volume 42, Issue 5 (2015), 759-776.

Publication Date

November 11, 2015

Abstract:
Most migration research is focused on migrant experiences after mobility and settlement. We argue that empirical researchers would benefit from studying how cognitive migration, the narrative imagining of oneself inhabiting a foreign destination prior to the actual physical move, influences migration behavior. This article notes a gap in our current understanding of the process by which individuals decide to cross international borders and offers an agenda for remedying this. The interdisciplinarity of migration research has not fully extended to social psychology or cognitive social sciences, where a dynamic research agenda has examined human decision-making processes, including prospection and the connections between culture and cognition. The study of socio-cognitive processes in migration decision-making has been largely overlooked because of the after-the-fact nature of data collection and analysis rather than an aversion to these approaches per se. We highlight a number of strategic findings from this diverse field, provide examples of migration scholarship that has benefited from these insights, and raise questions about the sides of migration process that have received insufficient attention. A more nuanced understanding of prospective thinking—imagining potential futures—can shed light on the classic puzzle of why some people move while others in comparable situations do not.

Migration Industries: A Comparison of the Ecuador-US and Ecuador-Spain Cases

Author(s)

David Kyle and Rachel Goldstein

Published in

European University Institute case study (2011)

Publication Date

January 01, 2011

Abstract:
There has been growing attention recently in what has been labeled alternatively the “migration industry,” the business of migration, or migration merchants. This paper describes two of the most significant cases of migration industries facilitating large-scale labor migrations from Ecuador to first, New York City and, then, Spain. We compare the organization and impact of these two separate migration industries and their ability to impact key features of Ecuadorians’ labor mobility and settlement at these two destinations. We discuss the historical context of the sending regions and the policies of the destination states to better understand the conditions under which such migration industries can flourish. We argue for a robust conception of migration industries, comprised of a diverse set of formal and informal economic activities, increasingly able to shape migration patterns and outcomes.

Mobility Creativity Nexus

Apr 8, 2016

Buehler Alumni Center | AGR Hall | UC Davis

David Kyle

Position Title Associate Professor

David Kyle's content

Position Title

Associate Professor