I grew up in the countryside of Brazil and completed both my undergraduate (2017) and master’s (2020) degrees in economics at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP), my alma mater and the place where I first became fascinated by how global shocks shape the lives of people in developing economies. After several years immersed in that intellectual community, I moved to the United States to pursue my Ph.D. in Economics at Colorado State University before joining Denison.
At Denison, I teach courses on global trade and financial markets and quantitative methods, and I especially enjoy working closely with students from a wide range of backgrounds. I see teaching and mentoring as natural extensions of the questions that first brought me into economics: how economies change, why inequalities persist, and how people adapt to shifting global conditions.
Learning & Teaching
- GC301: Global Trade and Financial Markets
Research
My research lies at the intersection of international trade and economic development. I combine applied microeconomic methods with macroeconomic theory to address policy-relevant questions. Much of my current work investigates the consequences of trade-induced economic shocks for development outcomes such as structural change, electoral outcomes, mortality, and crime.
Works
- Cícero, V. C., & Heras-Recuero, L. (2025). The consumption side of trade shocks: Inequality dynamics and luxury imports. Journal of Development Economics, 103663.
- Cícero, V. C., & Tavani, D. (2025). Institutional changes, effective demand, and inequality: a structuralist model of secular stagnation. Metroeconomica.
- Cícero, V. C., Dias, L. C. C., & Zahran, S. (2025). Trade Liberalization and Mortality Rates: Evidence of Pro‐Cyclical Mortality From Brazil. Health Economics, 34(3), 392-414.
- Cícero, V. C., & Lima, G. T. (2023). Functional distribution of income as a determinant of importing behavior: An empirical analysis. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 65, 393-405.