Beatriz
Silva da Costa

bs5vh@virginia.edu CV ORCID Google Scholar ResearchGate

I am on the 2026–2027 academic job market. You can find my job market paper here.

Oi!

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia and was a Predoctoral Fellow at the School of Foreign Service and Department of Government, Georgetown University (2025–26). In the spring of 2025, I was a Visiting Researcher at the Getulio Vargas Foundation's São Paulo School of Business Administration (FGV EAESP).

My current research focuses on the misuse of public spending and the inequalities in public provision. In my dissertation, I examine how campaign finance rules shape who wins government contracts, the role of party coalitions in the distribution of those contracts, and the entry of criminal organizations into public procurement in strong states. In related work, I study the capacity of oversight institutions to constrain corruption.

My work has appeared in Revista E-Legis and the Journal of the General Comptroller of the Union, as well as in edited volumes on democracy and anti-corruption policy. My research has been supported by the Carl Menger Fellowship at the Mercatus Center, the Bankard Fund for Political Economy at UVA, the Institute for Humane Studies, the UVA Center for Global Inquiry & Innovation, the Quandt Fund for International Research, the UVA Quantitative Collaborative, the Lemann Foundation, and the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

Research

Research & Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Published

CGU's Institutional Designs between 2001 and 2016

Silva da Costa, B. & Silame, T. · Revista E-Legis 15.37 (2022) · Portuguese

CorruptionBureaucracyBrazil

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Published

System of Internal Control of the Federal Executive Power: Change and Political Agents in the Constituent National Assembly of 1987

Silva da Costa, B. · Journal of the General Comptroller of the Union 12.22 (2020) · Portuguese

CorruptionHistoricalBrazil

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Book Chapters

Published

Global Trends: Erosion of Democracy and New Forms of Corruption

Silva da Costa, B. · In Democracy and Anti-Corruption Public Policies, ed. Carlos, L. G., France, G. & Medeiros, K. P., pp. 7–20 (2023) · Portuguese

CorruptionDemocracy

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Dissertation Essays

★ Job Market Paper

Local Governments, Local Markets: Campaign Finance Reform and Procurement Favoritism

Silva da Costa, B.

Campaign financeProcurementWelfare provisionSub-nationalLatin America

Read the paper (PDF) → Supporting Information (PDF) →

Working Paper

From Coercion to Contracting: How Organized Crime Provides for Strong States

Silva da Costa, B.

Organized crimeProcurementIllicit economyWelfare provision

Working Paper

The Cost of Coalition: How Political Alliances Shape Public Procurement in Brazil

Silva da Costa, B.

BureaucracyProcurementWelfare provisionSub-nationalLatin America

Working Papers

Working Paper

Narco-Banking: The Institutionalization of Illicit Capital in Emerging Economies

Silva da Costa, B. (2026)

Organized crimeIllicit economyCross-national

Working Paper

The Price of Entry: Campaign Spending Caps, Candidate Selection, and Procurement Capture

Silva da Costa, B. (2026)

ElectionsProcurementWelfare provision

Under Review

Local Authoritarianism: Appointed Mayors and Preferences for Democracy in Brazil

Gingerich, D. & Silva da Costa, B. (2026)

DemocracyBrazilSub-nationalLatin America

Working Paper

Political Connections and Corruption in Times of Crises

Silva da Costa, B., Fazekas, M. & Klašnja, M. (2026)

CorruptionCross-nationalWelfare provision

Software

R Package

electionsBR

Retrieves and cleans Brazilian electoral data · electionsbr.com

ElectionsBrazil

Teaching

University of Virginia · Instructor of Record

2024–25

Corruption and Democracy PLCP 2500

5.0 / 5 overall effectiveness Above the department average (4.87) and school average (4.55).

Passion & effectiveness

“Bea is an awesome, effective, and passionate teacher who anyone would be lucky to have. I truly learned a ton in this course.”

Active, varied teaching

“Bea's teaching style, which combines some lecture with small-group discussion, videos, and role-playing scenarios, really made the class time whiz by.”

Writing mentorship

“She clearly cares about her students and went out of her way to provide excellent guidance on how to write good papers.”

Student course evaluations

University of Virginia · Teaching Assistant

2024

Race and Real Estate in the US AAS 3853

Warmth & engagement

“Beatriz was a great instructor, very kind, understanding, and engaging. Big fan.”

Preparation & materials

“The TA clearly put in a lot of effort into the discussion section presentations and content.”

Inclusive discussion

“I appreciated the effort to involve everyone in discussion. My opinions and statements felt valued, which is very important for discussions.”

Student course evaluations

2024

Introduction to Comparative Politics PLCP 1010

Making material accessible

“Beatriz clearly reinterpreted the material we covered in readings and lectures and helped us understand everything holistically.”

Feedback & exam support

“The feedback and support she gave for our performance in exams was very helpful and warmly appreciated.”

Patient & supportive

“I have a great TA (Beatriz), who was very understanding, helpful, and patient with all her students.”

Student course evaluations

2024

Politics of Modernity PLCP 2420

No teaching evaluation — grading role only.

2023

Politics of Developing Areas PLCP 3012

Care for students

“Bea is a fantastic TA who really cares about her students.”

Clarity & synthesis

“Beatriz did a great job summarizing the material at the end of the week, which was very helpful.”

Research-paper mentoring

“She was very helpful when writing our research papers and constantly looked for ways to make us better prepared to write them.”

Student course evaluations

2022–23

Politics & Political Economy of the Welfare State PLCP 3120

4.6 / 5 overall effectiveness Above the department average (4.44) and school average (4.34).

Knowledge & rapport

“She's knowledgeable, receptive, and she's honestly the best TA I've had so far.”

Clarity & organization

“The topics we learned about in class would often be complex and confusing for me, but I always felt like she clarified everything for us in a very organized way.”

Exam & paper prep

“She really tried her best to prepare everyone as well as possible for the midterm and final papers and gave really good feedback.”

Student course evaluations

Fieldwork

In the field

42semi-structured interviews, 2022–23

27 + 15interviews across two waves

10institutions and groups

3cities, plus remote interviews

All 42 interviews were with people who run or study the procurement system: civil servants, one public prosecutor, academics, and staff of civil-society and international organizations. No politicians.

Brasília, São Paulo and Belo Horizonte, 2023

Fifteen interviews between 8 June and 15 September 2023, alongside the 10th Brazilian Meeting of Public Administration (EBAP) at IDP in June: the federal anti-corruption agency (3), the federal audit court (1), the competition authority (1), a state legislature’s purchasing department (1), academics (3), international organizations (2), and four interviews whose institution is not recorded.

**IDP, Brasília**One of my working sites; the university that hosted the conference

**Conference session**Brazil’s main public administration conference, June 2023

**Conference programme**10th Brazilian Meeting of Public Administration (EBAP), 5–7 June 2023

Brasília, 2022

Twenty-seven interviews between 6 June and 27 July 2022: auditors and directors at the federal anti-corruption agency (11), auditors in the procurement unit of the federal audit court (3), legislative staff at the National Congress (2), a state comptroller’s office (2), the Ministry of the Economy and the National Treasury (1 each), academics (5) and civil-society staff (2).

**Tribunal de Contas da União**Brazil’s federal audit court, which oversees how public money is spent

**Controladoria-Geral da União**Brazil’s federal anti-corruption and internal control agency

Ilha do Marajó, Amazon, 2020

A United Nations Development Programme project with Brazil’s federal government, under the Abrace o Marajó programme and the National Secretariat for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, carried out by the consultancy Herkenhoff & Prates. I was part of the field team for the situational diagnostic of the system that protects children and adolescents, and we reached all 16 municipalities of the archipelago, in the Brazilian Amazon: 325 questionnaires, 41 in-depth interviews with professionals at social-assistance centres and local organizations, and interviews with the guardianship council of every municipality. Most of that travel was by boat. Distances here are hard to picture from outside: Portel alone is larger than the state of Sergipe, river crossings run for hours, and phone and internet signal came and went, so the teams often worked out of contact with each other and with the office. The fieldwork fed the general technical report, which lists me on its technical team, and the indicators methodology, both published by the ministry.

46days in the archipelago, 2 Nov – 17 Dec 2020

16municipalities, all of them

325questionnaires: 133 with children and adolescents, 192 with adults

41in-depth interviews with social-assistance professionals