Congratulations to Kellogg Institute PhD Fellow Luiz Vilaça (sociology), who has accepted a postdoc position at the Center for Inter-American Policy and Research (CIPR) at Tulane University for next academic year and a tenure-track position at Bowdoin College starting in 2024.
His research cuts across organizational, political, and cultural sociology, focusing on anti-corruption reform, institutional change, and the effects of corruption investigations on public opinion and voting behavior. In particular, Vilaça examines how anti-corruption institutions shield external threats by using outreach strategies that increase the visibility of corruption investigations. He also analyzes the conditions under which investigations affect trust in political institutions and increase the chances that populist candidates are elected. His research combines an in-depth case study of the “Car Wash” operation in Brazil with comparative historical analyses of anti-corruption institutions in multiple countries, including Italy, Mexico, and Indonesia. His dissertation is titled "Punitive Protests, Judicial Decisions: Evidence from Brazil’s Anti-Corruption Movements."