Roberto Rocha Coelho Pires

Roberto Pires is a full time researcher at the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA), in Brasília, Brazil. He also teaches at the National School for Public Administration (ENAP). He earned his Ph.D. in Public Policy and Development from MIT’s Department of Urban Studies & Planning and a MA in Political Science from the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Roberto’s research focuses on state bureaucracies, bureaucrats, and their roles and influence in policymaking and implementation. He has done research on labor inspectors and on how they “construct” labor regulation on the ground, in interaction with workers, firms, and other bureaucracies. More recently he has been investigating the role of bureaucrats (both at the street and mid/managerial level) in shaping infrastructure and social policies in Brazil. Roberto has also experience in researching state-society relations in Brazil and subnational comparative analysis of participatory institutions (e.g. participatory budgeting, policy councils and conferences, among others), and their effectiveness on government activity and public policies. He published books (in Brazil) and articles (both in Portuguese and English) on these topics in international academic journals (such as Politics & Society, Regulation & Governance, etc.).