Luis Meloni

I am an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of São Paulo. My research uses causal inference methods and large-scale administrative data to study how regulatory and policy environments shape economic behavior and institutions.

I am increasingly drawn to applied questions in public economics where causal evidence can speak to consequential policy debates. Current projects examine the effects of AI adoption on labor markets in emerging economies, how time-of-use and dynamic electricity tariffs reshape peak and off-peak consumption, and the economics of environmental compliance and climate adaptation. A longer-standing line of research, now less central to my work, studies how media environments, platform governance, and the spread of misinformation shape political and economic outcomes.

Applied Econometrics & Causal Inference · Quantitative Methods for Policy Evaluation · Public Economics · Labor Economics · Political Economy

Publications

Working Papers

Work in Progress

Teaching

I teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Econometrics, Quantitative Methods, and Applied Microeconomics at the University of São Paulo (FEA-USP). My course evaluations are consistently among the highest in the department — for instance, 9.5/10 against a 8.1 department average in Econometrics II (evaluations in Portuguese — translations in Spanish and English).

Policy Work

I collaborate with governments, NGOs, and firms on program evaluation, bringing randomized and quasi-experimental methods to policy questions across areas including education, management assessment, and electricity markets.