Blog

Who owns the rainforest – and who has the right to use it – might seem like a simple question. But, in the Brazilian Amazon, that question lies at the heart of one of the world’s most persistent environmental challenges. A new study from Alexandre Gori Maia (UNICAMP) in partnership with João Paulo Mastrangelo (Universidade Federal do Acre) and Stella Schons (Virginia Tech) provides some of the strongest evidence yet that secure land tenure – not merely possessing a land title – plays a critical role in reducing deforestation and improving compliance with environmental laws.

Who is considered “fit” to have a baby? At first glance, the answer should be simple: every woman has the fundamental right to decide whether and when to have children. Yet across the world—and especially in unequal societies—some women face far greater scrutiny, stigma, and social barriers than others. A new study by Letícia Marteleto (University of Pennsylvania), Sneha Kumar (Northwestern University), Luiz Gustavo Fernandes Sereno (UNICAMP), and Alexandre Gori Maia (UNICAMP) provides some of the clearest evidence to date that social approval for childbearing is deeply stratified by race, class, and other intersecting socioeconomic characteristics.

For more than two decades, Brazil’s Bolsa Família Program (BFP) has stood at the center of global debates on poverty reduction and social policy. By transferring income to millions of low-income families, the program has transformed living conditions across the country. But one persistent question remains: do cash transfers undermine employment, or can they stimulate it? A new study by Júlia Manini Martins Bonilha and Alexandre Gori Maia (UNICAMP) provides some of the most detailed evidence to date on how Bolsa Família reshapes Brazil’s formal labor market — and for whom. 

Alexandre Gori Maia presented the first 2025 meeting of the Quantitative Methods Working Group for the Population Studies Center (PSC) at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) on February 10th. The presentation covered basic concepts and applications of spatial econometric models in demographic research. The PSC at UPenn is a center of excellence in population studies, bringing together researchers from diverse fields, including economics, demography, and sociology. The charming Philadelphia—the birthplace of independence, Rocky Balboa, and the Eagles, the 2025 Super Bowl champions—is the perfect place to study and live!

The Winter (at 30 degrees Celsius) Course on Panel Data Econometrics took place at Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), Paraná, on August 27 and 28, 2024. The course was taught by Alexandre Gori Maia from Universidade Estadual de Campinas. These happy graduate students and professors from UEM and UEL (Universidade Estadual de Londrina) in the picutre attended the course. Topics included regression analysis with cross-sectional data, omitted variable bias, pooled regression, fixed and random-effects estimators. Maringá is not only a pleasant place to live and study but is also known for having the best hot dogs in the world.