Sofia Berto Villas-Boas is the Class of 1934 Robert Gordon Sproul Distinguished Professor in Agricultural Economics and Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at U C Berkeley. Born in Portugal in 1971 she received her Ph.D. in Economics from U. C. Berkeley in May 2002. Her research interests include industrial organization, consumer behavior, food policy, and environmental regulation. Her recent empirical work estimates the effects of policies on consumer behavior, such a bottled water tax, a plastic bag ban, and a soda tax campaign and its implementation.
In Fall 2025 Professor Villas-Boas was awarded one of the Center for Portuguese’s Portugal-Berkeley Visiting Professor Program grants which allowed her to invite Pedro Vicente, NOVA School of Business and Economics, to give a public lecture at UC Berkeley.Pedro C. Vicente is a Full Professor of Economics at Nova School of Business and Economics (Nova SBE), where he is also the founding scientific director of the knowledge center NOVAFRICA. He specializes in development economics and Africa, with a focus on political economy issues. His research has entailed substantial fieldwork efforts in African countries including Mozambique, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe, as well as funding by national and international agencies such as DFID, USAID, 3IE, IZA, and FCT. Pedro Vicente has a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago.
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