Frederico Finan
George Break and Helen Schnacke Break Distinguished Professor of Economics and Professor of Business Administration
Department of Economics and Haas School of Business
651 Evans Hall
ffinan@berkeley.edu
Mailing address
University of California
Department of Economics
651 Evans Hall #3880
Berkeley, CA 94720
Recent Working Papers
- Climate Politics in the United States, with Matilde Bombardini, Nicolas Longuet-Marx, Suresh Naidu, Francesco Trebbi, 2025.
- Decoupling Taste-Based versus Statistical Discrimination in Elections, with Amanda de Albuquerque, Anubhav Jha, Laura Karpuska, Francesco Trebbi, 2025.
- When Democracy Refuses to Die: Evaluating a Training Program for New Politicians, with Ernesto Dal Bo, Claudio Ferraz, Pedro Pessoa, 2024, (R&R at the American Economic Review)
- Reinforcing RCTs with Multiple Priors while Learning about External Validity, with Demian Pouzo, 2024.
Selected Publications
- Malfunctioning Democracies: Understanding Accountability Failures in Developing Countries, with Claudio Ferraz, 2025. Forthcoming at North Holland’s Handbook of Political Economy.
- Brokering Votes with Information Spread Via Social Networks, with Raul Duarte, Horacio Larreguy, Laura Schechter, 2025. Forthcoming at Review of Economic Studies.
- Combating Political Corruption with Policy Bundles, with Maurizio Mazzocco, 2024, Forthcoming at Journal of Political Economy.
- Political Power, Elite Control, and Long-Run Development: Evidence from Brazil, with Claudio Ferraz and Monica Martinez-Bravo, 2024, Journal of European Economic Association. 22(6), 2870 - 2908.
- Economic and Social Outsiders but Political Insiders: Sweden’s Populist Radical Right, with Ernesto Dal Bo, Olle Folke, Torsten Persson, and Johanna Rickne. Review of Economic Studies, 2023, 90(2), 675–706. Web Appendix
- Money and Politics: Estimating the Effects of Campaign Spending Limits on Political Entry and Selection, with Eric Avis, Claudio Ferraz, and Carlos Varjao, 2021. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 14(4), 167–99.
- Voting with One’s Neighbors: Evidence from Migration within Mexico, with Enrique Seira and Alberto Simpser, 2021. Journal of Public Economics, 2021, 202.
- Electoral Incentives and the Allocation of Public Funds, with Maurizio Mazzocco, Journal of European Economic Association, 2021, 19:5, 2467-2512.
- Information Technology and Government Decentralization: Experimental Evidence from Paraguay, with Ernesto Dal Bo, Nicholas Li, and Laura Schechter, Econometrica, 2021, 89(2), 677-701.
- Progress and Perspectives in the Study of Political Selection, with Ernesto Dal Bo, Annual Review of Economics, 2018; 10:1, 541-575.
- Do Government Audits Reduce Corruption? Estimating the Impacts of Exposing Corrupt Politicians, with Eric Avis and Claudio Ferraz, Journal of Political Economy, 2018, 126:5, 1912-1964.
- Who Becomes a Politician?, with Ernesto Dal Bo, Olle Folke, Torsten Persson, and Johanna Rickne, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2017, 132(4), 1877-1914.
- The Personnel Economics of the State, with Benjamin A. Olken and Rohini Pande, Handbook of Economic Field Experiments, 2017, 2, 467-514.
- Strengthening State Capabilities: The Role of Financial Incentives in the Call to Public Service, with Ernesto Dal Bo and Martin A. Rossi, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2013, 128(3): 1169-1218.
- Corrupting Learning: Evidence from Missing Federal Education Funds in Brazil, with Claudio Ferraz and Diana B. Moreira, Journal of Public Economics, 2012, 96(9-10), 712-726.
- Local Electoral Accountability and Decentralized Program Performance, with Alain de Janvry and Elisabeth Sadoulet, Review of Economics and Statistics, 2012, 94(3): 672-685.
- Vote-buying and Reciprocity, with Laura Schechter, Econometrica, 2012, 80(2): 863-882.
- Electoral Accountability and Corruption in Local Governments: Evidence from Audit Reports, with Claudio Ferraz, American Economic Review, 2011, 101: 1274-1311.
- Neighborhood Peer Effects in Secondary School Enrollment Decisions, with Gustavo Bobonis, Review of Economics and Statistics, 2009, 91(4): 695-716.
- Exposing Corrupt Politicians: The Effect of Brazil’s Publicly Released Audits on Electoral Outcomes, with Claudio Ferraz, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2008; 123(2): 703-745.
- Can Conditional Cash Transfers Serve as Safety Nets to Keep Children at School and Out of the Labor Market?, with Alain de Janvry, Elisabeth Sadoulet, and Renos Vakis, Journal of Development Economics, 2005; 79(2): 349-373.
- Measuring the Income Generating Potential of Land in Rural Mexico, with Alain de Janvry and Elisabeth Sadouet, Journal of Development Economics, 2005; 77:27-51.
Resting Working Papers
- Procuring Firm Growth: The Effects of Government Purchases on Firm Dynamics, with Claudio Ferraz and Dimitri Szerman, February 2016.
- Motivating Politicians: The Impacts of Monetary Incentives on Quality and Performance, with Claudio Ferraz, August 2010.