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About José
José Tavares is a Full Professor of Economics at the Nova School of Business and Economics (NOVA SBE), Universidade Nova de Lisboa, within the Business & Economics faculty. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 1998, specializing in Political Economy and Macroeconomics, an M.Sc. in Economics from Harvard University in 1995, and a B.Sc. in Economics from Universidade Católica Portuguesa in 1990. Prior to his current appointment, Tavares taught economics courses at Harvard University, the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and Universidade Católica Portuguesa. He holds the position of Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in London, where he is affiliated as a Fellow in Macroeconomics and Growth and a Fellow in Political Economy.
Tavares's research interests include Political Economy, Public Policy, International Economics, Economic Development, and the Economics of Culture and Heritage. His scholarship explores the relationship between democracy and economic growth, the output costs of gender discrimination, globalization's role in curbing corruption, the political economy of federalism, the effects of gender quotas on politician quality, and stock market reactions to policy announcements. Prominent publications feature "How Democracy Affects Growth" (2001, European Economic Review, with Romain Wacziarg), "The Political Economy of Fiscal Adjustments" (1998, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, with Alberto Alesina and Roberto Perotti), "Assessing the 'Engines of Liberation': Home Appliances and Female Labor Force Participation" (2008, Review of Economics and Statistics, with Tiago Cavalcanti), and the co-edited volume "After the Crisis: Reform, Recovery, and Growth in Europe" (2016, Oxford University Press, with Francesco Caselli and Mário Centeno). Recent articles include "European Funds and Firm Performance: Evidence from a Natural Experiment" (2025, Small Business Economics, with José Mesquita and João Pereira dos Santos) and "Nobody's Gonna Slow Me Down? The Effects of a Transportation Cost Shock on Firm Performance and Behavior" (2023, Journal of Urban Economics, with Catarina Branco, Dirk C. Dohse, and João Pereira dos Santos). His work has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of Public Economics, and European Economic Review, and has received coverage in Time Magazine, The New York Times, Handelsblatt, and La Repubblica. Tavares contributes to policy discussions through the Economics for Policy group at NOVA SBE and has obtained funding from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for projects like "The 25th of April and Portuguese Democracy."