Carlos Schmidt-Padilla

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Development Research Initiative. My research leverages applied data science methods to study the political economy of development in Latin America and in sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, my research focuses on crime, health, human capital, migration, and policing.

I earned my doctorate in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, in August 2021.

Here is my CV.

Publications and Forthcoming


  1. The Unintended Consequences of Deportations: Evidence from Firm Behavior in El Salvador

Working Papers


  1. Gangs, Labor Mobility, and Development
  2. Market Structure and Extortion: Evidence from 50,000 Extortion Payments
  3. Missionary Competition, Education, and Long-run Political Development: Evidence from Africa
  4. Opportunities and Entrepreneurship: Evidence on Advanced Labor Market Experience
  5. Unintended Effects of Public Infrastructure: Labor, Education, and Crime in El Salvador

Research in Progress


  1. A Call of Duty? Police Force Formation in Brazil
  2. Mass Deportations, Economic Networks, and Firm Productivity in Guatemala
  3. Mass Incarceration and the Expansion of Gangs: Evidence from El Salvador
  4. Ni una menos: Sexual Violence in Latin America
  5. The Returned: Repatriations, Elections, and Policy Polarization in El Salvador
  6. Violence and Mental Health in Northern Central America

Teaching


As Instructor of Record:

As Teaching Assistant: