Julia Fonseca

Julia Fonseca holds the Josef and Margot Lakonishok Faculty Fellowship and is a Gies Advanced Study Scholar at the Gies College of Business, University of Illinois. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Finance and concurrently serves as an Associate Professor at the Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies. Her research focuses on financial development, labor markets, and mortgage markets, with a particular emphasis on Brazil's economic dynamics.

Key research interests include the interplay between credit access and economic inequality, the impact of mortgage policies on labor mobility, and the effects of financial inclusion on development. Fonseca has contributed to peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics and Journal of Finance, with notable work analyzing Brazil's financial systems and global credit markets.

Her articles explore topics like mortgage lock-in effects, debt collection regulations, and small business financing, often employing econometric and structural estimation techniques. Fonseca’s work has been cited in policy discussions and covered by major news outlets, reflecting its real-world relevance.

As part of her academic roles, she collaborates internationally and contributes to quantitative economics through computational methods research. Her positions at both Gies College and the Lemann Center highlight her dual expertise in finance and Latin American economic studies.