Rodrigo Cordova-Ponce
MIT GOV/LAB Alumni
email rcordova@mit.edu
Rodrigo was a Research Affiliate at MIT GOV/LAB. He has also been a Senior Research Associate at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA Mexico) and Lecturer in Probability and Statistics at Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in Mexico. Rodrigo supported MIT GOV/LAB on survey and experimental data collection strategies to better understand the social and economic effects of Covid-19 in sub-Saharan Africa. His main research work focuses on violence and public security strategies, informal and illegal markets’ dynamics, as well as economic development strategies for local governments. Previously, he worked as an instructor in Economics at the Harvard Kennedy School, as a consultant for the World Bank on impact evaluation strategies, and as a Research Associate at the Drug Policy Program at CIDE. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from CIDE and a Master’s degree in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from Harvard University.
Projects
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News July 2021
Trust as a Prerequisite for Compliance: Assessing Trust in Sierra Leone During Covid-19
Our second survey in Sierra Leone during Covid-19 showed that citizens are trusting of different authorities, suggesting people might be willing to comply with public health policies.
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News July 2021
Relationships Between the Formal and Informal Sector: An Exploratory Survey
We asked members of organizations working on issues related to the informal sector about how they worked with informality and how Covid-19 impacted this work.
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News April 2021
Exploratory Survey: Governance of the Informal Sector during Covid-19
New exploratory research seeks to understand the relationship between people and government during the pandemic, specifically in informal contexts — conceived broadly as communities and activities existing and operating outside formal government regulations or legal frameworks.