Frederico Finan

Frederico Finan is a Professor at UC Berkeley’s Department of Economics and Haas School of Business. A member of UC Berkeley’s faculty since 2009, he teaches graduate courses in data analytics in Haas’ Executive MBA Programs.

His research applies data analytics to explore the interactions between economic and political forces in developing countries, with a focus on Latin America. He is particularly interested in designing and evaluating new strategies for improving government capabilities, including human resource management. His research typically involves working with large datasets and the use of A/B testing techniques to better incorporate data and empirical evidence into business and policy decision-making.

Finan has published numerous peer-reviewed papers including publications in many top academic journals such as the Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, and Quarterly Journal of Economics.  He serves as Faculty Director of Berkeley’s Center for Economics and Politics, is a Board Member and Fellow of the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. In 2013, Finan was award an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship for his research.

Finan has given 100+ invited presentations on data analytics and other research topics including recent presentations at the University of Chicago, Harvard University, Stanford University, Yale University, and the World Bank.  

Prior to moving to UC Berkeley, Finan was an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Stanford University. He received a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC-Berkeley in 2006.