I am a Tax Auditor at the Federal Revenue of Brazil (RFB), where I work on estimating tax gaps and conducting research using large-scale administrative datasets. My work focuses on improving taxpayer selection and studying tax evasion, the effects of enforcement, spillover dynamics, and behavioral responses, using causal inference methods and machine learning models. I am TADAT-certified and serve as a Brazilian delegate to the OECD Working Party No. 2, including its work on Tax, Inequality and Growth (TIG).
I am also Academic Director at Prospera Lab, a Research Fellow at CLEAN Unit (Bocconi University) and a Research Associate at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) My academic research focuses on taxation and development economics, exploring topics such as the effects of tax decentralization and enforcement, intergenerational mobility, inequality, poverty, informality, and the long-term impacts of social safety nets.
I hold a PhD in Economics from PIMES/UFPE, with a research period at Bocconi University. Previously, I earned an MPA from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University as a Fulbright Fellow, a Master’s in Economics, and degrees in Economics and Law. My doctoral thesis received the Haralambos Simeonidis Prize for the best doctoral dissertation in Economic Sciences in Brazil as well as an Honorable Mention in the CAPES Thesis Award for the best Ph.D. thesis in Brazil.
I have published at The Review of Economics and Statistics. My work has been featured in Valor Econômico, Folha de São Paulo, O Estado de São Paulo, O Globo, and VoxDev.
email: alexandre.fonseca@rfb.gov.br | alexandredeafonseca@gmail.com
Upcoming Conference: 8th World Bank/ODI Global/IFS Public Finance. Washington DC Sep 24-25
