Ervin Kenneth Zingler Professor of Economics at Rice University, Prof. Flávio Cunha’s expertise is in labor economics with special emphasis on human capital formation. He previously was an assistant professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania. His current research focuses on the causes and consequences of inequality and poverty relative to fluctuations in the labor market. His on-going research project, the Philadelphia Human Development Study, aims to understand how parental expectations about the returns on investing in children affect actual investment decisions.

Prof. Cunha earned his Ph.D. in Economics from University of Chicago and an M.Sc. from Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.