João Pedro Bastos is a research assistant at the Free Market Institute and a Ph.D. student in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. He has also served as a graduate instructor in the Area of Energy Commerce & Business Economics (Rawls College of Business).

João Pedro earned his B.A. in Economics at the Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. He has worked as a policy analyst for the City of Porto Alegre, both in the Executive and Legislative branches, focused on modernizing regulations for business. He has also served in academic positions for several think tanks in Brazil, including Instituto Atlantos, Instituto Liberdade, and Instituto Mises Brasil.

His research interests include the political economy of development, with special emphasis on the institutional environment of Latin America and the impact of populism and corruption on institutions.