Freie Universität Berlin
Economics Department / Institute for Latin American Studies
Ruedesheimer Str. 54-56
D-14197 Berlin, Germany
Phone: +49 30 838 54715
Email: manuel.santos.silva@fu-berlin.de

Current Position

Junior Professor at Freie Universität Berlin for Economics of Latin America.

Joint appointment between the Department of Economics and the Institute for Latin American Studies.

Projects and Affiliations

Since 2024:

• Principal Investigator at Mecila: Maria Sibylla Merian Centre Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America.
• Faculty Member at the Berlin School of Economics.
• Faculty Member at the EQUALFIN Doctoral Program: Finance and inequality in times of polycrisis.

Education

• 2015-2018: PhD in Economics, University of Göttingen, Germany; Thesis: Essays on Gender, Migration, and Development; Advisors: Stephan Klasen, Krisztina Kis-Katos, Amy C. Alexander.
• 2014-2015: Advanced Studies Program in International Economic Policy Research, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany.
• 2012-2014: Master of Arts in Development Economics, University of Göttingen, Germany.
• 2008-2011: Bachelor in Economics, University of Porto, Portugal.

Academic Career

Since 01/2023           
Junior Professor for Economics of Latin America, Freie Universität Berlin.

2020–2022
Post-doctoral Researcher (Akademischer Rat a.Z.), University of Münster.

2018–2020
Post-doctoral Researcher, University of Göttingen.

2015–2018
Research and Teaching Assistant, University of Göttingen.

Winter Semester 24/25:

• Lecture (Master): Entwicklungstheorien und -konzepte
• Seminar (Master): Interdisziplinäre Lateinamerikaforschung / Investigación interdisciplinaria sobre América Latina II
• Seminar (PhD / Master): Political Economy of Development

Summer Semester 24:

• Lecture (Master): Interdependent Inequalities
• Lecture (Bachelor): Social Policy in Latin America

Recommendations for students - Journals for Economics of Latin America.

Articles

[9] Barros, Laura and Manuel Santos Silva (2025). Economic shocks, gender, and populism: Evidence from Brazil. Journal of Development Economics, 174, 103412.

[8] Barros, Laura and Manuel Santos Silva (forthcoming). Between sticky floors and glass ceilings: Trade liberalization and wage inequality by gender and race in Brazil. Economic Development and Cultural Change.

[7] Frohnweiler, Sarah, Esther Heesemann, Marcello Perez-Alvarez, Manuel Santos Silva, and Sebastian Vollmer (forthcoming). Hospital construction and emergency waiting time: Evidence from Nicaragua. Journal of Development Effectiveness.

[6] Preusse, Verena, Manuel Santos Silva, Linda Steinhübel, and Meike Wollni (2024). Covid‐19 and agricultural labor supply: Evidence from the rural-urban interface of an Indian mega‐city. Agribusiness, 40, 391-415.

[5] Santos Silva, Manuel, Amy C. Alexander, Stephan Klasen, and Christian Welzel (2023). The roots of female emancipation: Initializing role of Cool Water. Journal of Comparative Economics, 51(1), 133-159.

[4] Lo Bue, Maria C., Tu Thi Ngoc Le, Manuel Santos Silva, and Kunal Sen (2022). Gender and vulnerable employment in the developing world: Evidence from global microdata. World Development, 159, 106010.

[3] Santos Silva, Manuel and Stephan Klasen (2021). Gender inequality as a barrier to economic growth: A review of the theoretical literature. Review of Economics of the Household, 19(3), 581-614.

[2] Klasen, Stephan, Tu Thi Ngoc Le, Janneke Pieters, and Manuel Santos Silva (2021). What drives female labor force participation? Comparable micro-level evidence from eight developing and emerging economies. Journal of Development Studies, 57(3), 417-442.

[1] Höckel, Lisa, Manuel Santos Silva, and Tobias Stöhr (2018). Can parental migration reduce petty corruption in education? World Bank Economic Review, 32(1), 109-126.

Other writings (media, blogs)

Lo Bue, Maria C., Tu Thi Ngoc Le, Manuel Santos Silva, and Kunal Sen, Why women are made to rely on vulnerable work. OECD Development matters, January 14, 2022.

Barros, Laura and Manuel Santos Silva, Right-wing Populism in the Tropics: the Rise of Jair Bolsonaro. Lead commentary in the VoxEU debate on Populism, January 4, 2020.