I am Assistant Professor of Political Science and Associate Research Fellow at the Center for Inter-American Policy and Research and the Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University.

I study the political economy of developing countries, with a regional focus on Latin America. My research interests include elections, clientelism, corruption, and patronage politics. My book project focuses on one of the mechanisms that undermines the quality of democratic politics in developing countries —the political use of public employment. A 2019 edited volume, Campaigns and Voters in Developing Democracies (with Noam Lupu and Luis Schiumerini), examines the determinants of vote choice in developing countries. In May 2013, I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University. During the 2012-2013 academic  year, I was a Visiting Scholar in the Research Department at the Inter-American Development Bank. In 2016-2017, I was a visiting scholar at the Program on Democracy at Yale University. 

My research has appeared in American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, Economics and Politics, Latin American Research Review, and Political Analysis.

Contact Information

Political Science Department

Tulane University

6823 St. Charles Avenue

Norman Mayer Building, Room 311

New Orleans, LA 70118

Email: volivero@tulane.edu

Phone: (504) 862-8306