Steven Helfand is Associate Professor of economics at the University of California, Riverside. He was Chair of Latin American Studies at UCR from 2002 to 2006, Director of the UC Education Abroad Program in Brazil from 2006 to 2009, and the 2010-11 recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award in the UCR College of Humanities and Social Sciences. He specializes in issues related to poverty, inequality, and economic development in Latin America. He is currently working on several projects about productivity, poverty and the future of small farms in Brazil.