Luis Meloni
Associate Professor of Economics
- Associate Professor of Economics, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP)
- Former Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Bocconi University
Associate Professor of Economics
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
Media Manipulation in Young Democracies: Evidence from the 1989 Brazilian Presidential Election
Comparative Political Studies, 2024Replication: Harvard Dataverse
Policy Enforcement in the Presence of Organized Crime: Evidence from Rio de Janeiro
Journal of Development Economics, 2023Coverage: Piauí Magazine
Under Pressure: Women's Leadership During the COVID-19 Crisis
Journal of Development Economics, 2022Replication: data & code
Coverage: BBC Brasil · BBC Mundo · BBC Afrique · Foreign Policy · Folha de São Paulo · G1 · Globo News · O Povo · UOL · El Espectador · La Nación · El Comercio
Working Papers
Do Set-Aside Auctions Pay Off? Evidence from Brazil
Presented at: European Economic Association (2025) · UPF Applied Seminar (2025) · Charles University (2024) · Utrecht University (2024) · Ghent University (2024)
Can Entertainment Media Undermine Dictatorships?
Presented at: Bocconi University (BREAD/CEPR/PODER) · UC Berkeley · Yale University · NYU · LSE STICERD · PUC-Rio · University of São Paulo · São Paulo School of Economics · Brazilian Econometric Society · CEPR Political Economy Webinar
Severing the Pipeline: Platform Bans and Misinformation in Closed Messaging Networks
Work in Progress
The Impact of Principal Leadership Practices on Student Achievement in Brazilian Schools
Extreme Heat, Mortality, and Health Insurance Coverage in Brazil
Estimates the effect of heat waves on excess mortality across Brazilian municipalities, and asks who bears the cost — comparing areas with high private health-insurance coverage against those reliant on the public system (SUS). Data: SIM mortality records, BR-DWGD temperature, and ANS coverage.
Behavioral and Economic Impacts of Tariff Innovations in the Brazilian Electricity Market
Randomized evaluation of time-of-use electricity tariffs. Examines risk preferences and consumption smoothing under price uncertainty using a large-scale RCT with a Brazilian utility.
AEA RCT Registry: AEARCTR-0015658 · AEARCTR-0016313
Populism and Environmental Enforcement in Brazil
Examines how populism shapes the enforcement of environmental regulation in Brazil.
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).
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.