Chiara Falco

I am a development economist studying how environmental shocks, policy interventions, and cultural context shape rural livelihoods and demographic behaviour across the Global South. Recently, my research has spanned the effects of temperature shocks on women's agricultural self-employment and cultural heritage, family planning and ethnic heritage in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the impact of large infrastructure investments and trade regulations on land use and rural economies in Brazil and beyond. Using microeconometric methods, spatial analysis, and field-based data, I combine rigorous empirical evidence with on-the-ground engagement to inform more effective and equitable policy.

My work has been published in leading international journals, including Global Environmental Change, Ecological Economics, World Development, and Journal of Rural Studies, and I currently serve as Associate Editor at QOpen (Oxford University Press).

I am an affiliate at the University of São Paulo and a research associate at the Research Center of Public Policy and Religion (USP). 

I am on the board of directors of the Italian-Brazilian Economic Association. 

I am Andrea's wife and Matilde and Samuele's mum. You can read our book here on our three years as lay missionaries working for Pontificio Istituto Missioni Estere (PIME) in the slums of São Paulo (BR).