Ben Ross Schneider is Ford International Professor of Political Science and director of the MIT Brazil program. Prior to joining the department in 2008, Schneider taught at Princeton University and Northwestern University. Schneider’s current research examines the distinct institutional foundations of capitalist development in Latin America with particular attention to diversified business groups, foreign investment, human capital, labor markets, and commodity-led growth. Other ongoing research examines new forms of state capitalism, industrial policy, and state-owned enterprises. Schneider’s research has been supported by the Fulbright Program, the Social Science Research Council, the Searle Foundation, the Kellogg Institute, the Heinz Foundation, the Tinker Foundation, and the Inter-American Foundation.
Schneider also has a strong interest in contemporary policy debates and has consulted for the Ford Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the Global Development Network, the United Nations Research Institute for Social Research (UNRISD), and the governments of Brazil and the United States. He has also been active in promoting a new research network, Red de Economía Política de América Latina, Repal.
Innovation in Brazil, Advancing Development in the 21st Century, , Routledge, 2019
State-led Innovation: SOEs, Institutional Fragmentation, and Policy Making in Brazil, Industrial Performance Center, 2017