Raphael Corbi

Raphael Corbi


I am a Full Professor of Economics at the University of São Paulo, where I study how political institutions, labor markets, and religious organizations shape economic outcomes. My research has been featured in The Economist, Folha de São Paulo, and VoxEU, and awarded the Haralambos Simeonidis prize for best paper in Economics by a Brazilian scholar. I received my Ph.D. from the London Business School in 2014.

Finance and development · Labor economics · Economics of culture and religion · Political economy

Publications

Regional Transfer Multipliers

with Elias Papaioannou and Paolo Surico · Vol. 86, Issue 5, Oct. 2019, pp. 1901–1934 · DOI

The Review of Economic Studies

Church Tax Exemption and Structure of Religious Markets: a Dynamic Structural Analysis

with Fabio Miessi Sanches · Vol. 17, No. 3, Aug. 2025, pp. 131–63 · DOI

American Economic Journal: Microeconomics

The Decline of Religiosity in America: Evidence from a Structural Model of Endogenous Church Differentiation

with Fabio A. Miessi Sanches

Journal of Political Economy: Microeconomics — Forthcoming

Income Shocks and Mortality of Low-Wage Workers: Evidence from Wage Allowances in Brazil

with Caio Pedro Castro · Vol. 179, 2026 ·

Journal of Development Economics

Internal Migration and Labor Market Adjustments in the Presence of Nonwage Compensation

with Tiago Ferraz and Renata Narita · Vol. 177,2025 ·

Journal of Development Economics

Media Manipulation in Young Democracies: Evidence From the 1989 Brazilian Presidential Election

with Alexsandros Cavgias, Luis Meloni and Lucas Novaes · 57(2), 221-253, 2023 ·

Comparative Political Studies

Female Judges and In-Group Bias in Labor Courts

with Rafael Ferreira, Jaqueline Oliveira and Danilo Souza · Vol. 41(3), 2021

Economics Bulletin

The Cost of Gendered Attitudes on a Female Candidate: Evidence from Google Trends

with Pedro Picchetti · Vol. 196, November 2020

Economics Letters

Unintended Consequences of Unemployment Insurance: Evidence from Stricter Eligibility Criteria in Brazil

with Cristiano Carvalho and Renata Narita · Vol. 162, pp. 157–161, 2018

Economics Letters

Working Papers

Dams and Rural Conflict: Evidence from Brazil's Hydropower Expansion

with Chiara Falco and Luca J Uberti

Labor Courts, Job Search and Employment: Evidence from a Labor Reform in Brazil

with Renata Narita, Danilo Souza and Rafael Ferreira · Draft coming soon

Payroll Tax, Employment and Labor Market Concentration

with Eric Baumgartner and Renata Narita

Labour Economics — Revise & Resubmit

In Progress

The Gospel According to Media: Religious Radio and the Rise of Pentecostalism in Brazil

with Bruno Komatsu

Size of Legislature, Public Spending and Political Budget Cycle

Supply-side Secularization: Evidence from Religious Entrepreneurs in Brazil

The Ecumenical Multiplier: A Structural Account of Mergers and Schisms in American Protestantism

The Components of Economic Freedom, Income and Growth: an Empirical Analysis

Vol. 37, n.3, pp. 515–545, 2007

Estudos Econômicos

The Empirical Determinants of Happiness in Brazil

with Naercio A. Menezes-Filho · Vol. 26, n.4, 2006 (in Portuguese)

Revista de Economia Política

Op-Eds & Media

Teaching

Econometrics
Microeconomics
Labor Economics
Political Economy

rcorbi@usp.br

Department of Economics · University of São Paulo · São Paulo, Brazil