Danilo Souza

Danilo Souza

Associate Professor of Economics


Department of Economics, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP)

Founder and Director, GEECRIM (Grupo de Estudos em Economia do Crime e Violência)

I’m an Associate Professor of Economics at the School of Economics, Business and Accounting at the University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).

My research interests are primarily in the Economics of Crime and Labor Economics. I am interested in how economic shocks and institutions shape crime, in how crime in turn affects firms and labor market outcomes, and in how legal institutions affect labor markets. I am also interested in organized crime and its links to the formal economy and to institutions in Brazil.

Economics of Crime · Labor economics · Applied Microeconomics

Research

Publications

Electoral Campaign Attacks: Theory and Evidence

with Marcos Y. Nakaguma · American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Forthcoming

Political Economy · PDF · Replication Package

Too Much of a Good Thing: Accelerated Growth and Crime

with Rodrigo R. Soares · Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 175, 2025

Crime · PDF · Replication Package: upon request · Featured in Estadão (2025)

A Model of Endogenous Education Quality: the Role of Teachers

with Mauro Rodrigues · Macroeconomic Dynamics, Vol. 29, 2025

Growth & Development · PDF · Replication Package: upon request

The Role of Public Security Reforms on Violent Crime Dynamics

with Mateus Maciel · Economics Letters, Vol. 241, 2024

Crime · PDF · Replication Package: upon request

Female Judges and In-Group Bias in Labor Courts

with Jaqueline Oliveira, Raphael Corbi, and Rafael Ferreira · Economics Bulletin, Vol. 41 (No. 3), 2021

Labor · PDF · Replication Package: upon request

Education Quality and the Empirics of Economic Growth: reconciling Mankiw-Romer-Weil estimates with microeconometric evidence

with Mauro Rodrigues · Applied Economics Letters, Vol. 28 (No. 6), 2021

Growth & Development · PDF · Replication Package: upon request

Working papers

In progress

Justice at a Cost: Labor Lawsuits and Employment Outcomes

with Tuffy L. Issa · Draft coming soon

Labor

Other publications

When Fear Goes Viral: The Role of Social Media in Perceived Insecurity

with Bruno Velha · Pesquisa e Planejamento Econômico (IPEA), Forthcoming

Crime · PDF · Replication Package: upon request



Teaching

In recent years, I have taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Computational Methods, the Economics of Crime, and Macroeconomics.Syllabi for the courses I am currently teaching are linked below.

Computational Economics

Undergraduate

Economics of Crime

Undergraduate · Syllabus

Graduate · Syllabus

Macroeconomics I

Undergraduate

Macroeconomics II

Undergraduate



Contact

danilosouza@usp.br

Avenida Professor Luciano Gualberto, 908

University of São Paulo, FEA II Building, Office 221

São Paulo, SP, Brazil · 05508-010

© 2026 Danilo Souza · Last updated August 2026 · Made with Quarto