Backstory: Gautam Rao on Democracy, Diffusion, and and the Long Game of Research
From Backstory: How Research Papers in Economics Get Made by UC San Diego
May 28, 2026 · 30 min
About this episode
Maddison interviews Gautam Rao about his research on policy diffusion in Brazil and his experiences in academia.
In this episode, Maddison speaks with Gautam Rao, Associate Professor at the Haas School of Business and the Department of Economics at UC Berkeley, about his paper titled, "Laboratories of Democracy? Experimental Evidence on Policy Diffusion between Municipalities in Brazil,” joint with Ines Badin, Jonas Hjort, Diana Moreira, Juan Santini. He also discusses how this project built on an earlier project, “How Research Affects Policy: Experimental Evidence from 2,150 Brazilian Municipalities,” and talks about the process of forming collaborations with field partners and coauthors. Gautam also shares about his experience of developing his job market paper, “Familiarity Does Not Breed Contempt: Generosity, Discrimination and Diversity in Delhi Schools.”
People in this episode
Host: Maddison
Guest: Gautam Rao
Topics covered
- democracy
- policy diffusion
- Brazil
- research collaboration
- economics
- education
Keywords
- democracy
- policy diffusion
- Brazil
- research collaboration
- economics
- education
- job market paper
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Haas School of Business, Department of Economics at UC Berkeley
Books & works: Laboratories of Democracy? Experimental Evidence on Policy Diffusion between Municipalities in Brazil, How Research Affects Policy: Experimental Evidence from 2,150 Brazilian Municipalities, Familiarity Does Not Breed Contempt: Generosity, Discrimination and Diversity in Delhi Schools
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