Economist Vitor Melo has joined the Archbridge Institute as a regulatory policy fellow, bringing his experience as a policy researcher and host of “The Cause & Effect,” a growing multimedia channel that translates complex research into digestible discussions and real-world applications.
As a researcher, Dr. Melo studies the effects of labor regulations, healthcare policy, and other emerging issues. His research and policy experience includes appointments with RAND, the Knee Regulatory Research Center, the University of Chicago’s Initiative on Enabling Choice and Competition in Healthcare, the Mercatus Center’s Open Health Project, and the Independent Institute.
In 2025, he launched The Cause & Effect Podcast to inform and inspire better conversations about evidence-based policy for real-world change. The Cause & Effect features accessible interviews with leading scholars on the causes of economic outcomes and the effects of policy.
On welcoming Dr. Melo to the institute, Archbridge President & CEO Gonzalo Schwarz said:
“I’m delighted to welcome Vitor as a new member of our team. With Vitor, we are adding even more firepower to our research and outreach efforts. He brings expertise linking human flourishing to regulatory and labor policy, and he will help us explore new topics such as artificial intelligence and healthcare policy. I’m excited to produce more content through The Cause & Effect Podcast that connects the dots between Archbridge’s three pillars—the economics, psychology, and culture of flourishing—and communicate research findings to a broader audience.”
To kick things off in his new role, Dr. Melo participated in an interview with our staff about his current projects, research inspiration, and plans for the future.
What drew you to the Archbridge Institute’s mission and this role?
Archbridge’s mission resonates with me because lifting barriers to human flourishing requires more than good intentions—it requires rigorous, evidence-based research that can stand up to scrutiny. At the same time, I’m drawn to Archbridge’s emphasis on connecting cutting-edge data insights with the narratives that shape public understanding and policy decisions. I care deeply about translating research findings into clear, accessible takeaways that people can actually use, whether they’re policymakers, practitioners, or members of the public. I’m excited about the opportunity to contribute to that bridge-building work and to help ensure high-quality research has real-world impact.
Your research spans a lot of important topics. What inspired you to study economics and to become a policy researcher?
I became interested in economics after moving to the U.S. as a teenager from Brazil. I was struck by how different daily life felt—levels of safety, the breadth of opportunities, and the overall standard of living—and I wanted to understand why those differences were so large. Economics gave me a framework to study those questions in a systematic way: how institutions and policies shape incentives, investment, innovation, and ultimately human flourishing. That’s what led me to policy research: using evidence to better understand what expands opportunity and what holds it back.
What research questions are you excited to pursue as a Regulatory Policy Fellow?
As a Regulatory Policy Fellow, I’m excited to focus on research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, labor markets, and regulation. Building on The Labor Market Effects of Generative Artificial Intelligence, I’m expanding the scope of that work as our ongoing recurring survey continues to track how AI use evolves over time: who adopts, who deepens their use, who disengages, and what that means for workers and firms. I’m especially interested in the policy questions this evidence can inform, such as how to encourage broad-based gains from AI while avoiding rules that unintentionally slow innovation or raise compliance costs. I also hope to contribute in other regulatory policy areas where careful measurement can clarify tradeoffs and improve decision-making.
One thing that sets you apart is your focus on bringing research insights to non-academic audiences. You do this in a variety of ways, including The Cause & Effect Podcast. Why do you think it’s important to connect the dots between research and real-world problems and solutions?
I think it’s important because high-quality, policy-relevant research only creates impact when it reaches the people who make decisions and the people affected by them. Too often, valuable evidence stays inside academia—behind jargon, paywalls, or formats that aren’t accessible to broader audiences.
The Cause & Effect Podcast is also coming to the Archbridge Institute. Tell us about your vision for this project and how it can help lift barriers to human flourishing.
With The Cause & Effect Podcast, my goal is to take rigorous, evidence-based work and translate it into conversations that are clear, engaging, and useful—connecting findings to the real-world problems they speak to and the tradeoffs behind different solutions. I’m excited to bring the podcast to Archbridge, where we have big plans to make policy-relevant insights from cutting-edge research accessible to a much wider audience and to strengthen the bridge between research and public understanding.
And lastly, who are your three dream guests for The Cause & Effect Podcast? Let’s make it happen!
James Heckman—who is a senior fellow at Archbridge—along with two mentors I greatly admire: John List and Casey Mulligan.
To follow Dr. Melo’s work and the rest of the Archbridge team, sign up for our newsletter and connect with us on social media. You can follow Dr. Melo on X (formerly Twitter) @MeloVitor_ and subscribe to The Cause & Effect on YouTube.
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