Ricardo Godoy
Heller School for Social Policy and Development
Sustainable International Development Program
P.O. Box 549110, MS 078
Waltham, MA 02454-9110
(781) 736-2784
rgodoy@brandeis.edu
Ricardo Godoy, Professor, Sustainable International Development Program, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, is an anthropologist trained at Columbia University (PhD 1983). He has done research in Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, Bolivia, and Indonesia. The focus of his work has been in Bolivia, where he has worked since the late 1970s, first on mining and agricultural research, and subsequently on the effect of markets on human welfare and conservation. Since the early 1990s he has been doing research on the effect of markets among indigenous people in Central America and in the Bolivian lowlands. He uses price and trade theory and recent advances in experimental research design to develop and test hypotheses about how markets affect quality of life in relatively simple rural economies. For the past decade he has received consistent funding from various programs of the National Science Foundation. Current funded research projects include: (a) methods to enhance the reliability of panel data, (b) the role of forests as a safety net among forest dwellers of Suriname, (c) and the effect of new farm technologies on health among lowland Amerindians in Bolivia. His most recent book is Indians, Markets, and Rainforests: Theory, Methods, Analysis (Columbia University). He does not have a dog, enjoy biking, or taking time off.