I am a PhD candidate in Political Economy and Government at Harvard University. My research interests lie at the intersection of Development Economics, Political Economy, and Behavioral Economics, particularly in the design of products and institutions to improve the lives of the poor.
My job market paper studies whether cracking down on corruption helps or hurts public service delivery, analyzing the effects of an anti-corruption program in Brazil. We find that, while the program greatly reduced the incidence of corruption, public services became significantly worse. Lower corruption came at a high cost: local procurement staff dramatically reduced purchases after the program, either because they no longer could capture rents, or because they were afraid of being punished for procurement mistakes.
I am also the founder of MGov, a mobile platform for policy design and impact evaluation. I have been listed as one of the Top-10 Brazilian Innovators Under 35 and named Social Innovator of 2014 by MIT Technology Review.
Harvard Kennedy School recently featured my work here.
