Byron Villacis Cruz
Biography
Professor Villacis received a B.A. in Economics from University of San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), a M.Sc. in Economics from the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) and a Ph.D. in Sociology and Demography from the University of California-Berkeley in 2023. Before joining the University of Oregon he was an Assistant Professor at Bowdoin College and before his Ph.D. he was the head of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses of Ecuador.
His research focuses on 1) exploring how societies shape and are shaped by quantifications, 2) studying the role of experts and how power relations shape expertise in the fields of corruption, dollarization, statistics, and gender, and 3) understanding how modern notions of anti-corruption are associated with austerity, inequality, and the compression of markets.
Villacis has an awarded participation in spaces of public sociology and data activism. He uses the tools, methods, and concepts of social science to construct bridges to broader audiences in an accessible manner. This includes newspaper articles, blog posts, radio station visits, television appearances, Youtube, and the classroom. He co-founded the Latin American Observatory of Population Censuses (OLAC), which has produced, since 2016, more than 200 didactic pieces analyzing and evaluating the transparency of public statistics. He is also the head coordinator of the official oversight of the 2022 population census in Ecuador, officialized through the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCS). He regularly contributes to newspapers such as El Universo, El Telégrafo and digital outlets such as Open Democracy, GK, and the Dollarization Observatory. In addition, he has been quoted and interviewed in outlets such as The Washington Post (USA), El Diario (España), Clarin (Argentina), France24 (France), Folha de Sao Paulo (Brazil), Revista Vistazo (Ecuador), Revista Lideres (Ecuador), Semana (Colombia), among others.
He was the head of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses in Ecuador, where he led the 2010 Population Census and administered more than 35 national official surveys - including the National Survey of Employment and Unemployment, the National Survey of Violence Against Woman, and the National Survey of Living Conditions. He also founded and directed private research companies and has been a consultant for international organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank and corporations such as Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. He is currently a consultant for the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). He advises statistical offices in Latin America and Africa. He is a Senior Fellow of the Corruption in the Global South Research Consortium and a Board Member of the Research Committee of Sociology of Population of the International Sociological Association (ISA). Professor Villacis has received awards for his contributions to public sociology, social initiatives, and outstanding teaching.
Publications
2025 Villacis, Byron, and William Echeverria. 2025. “The Subordination of Economic Expertise: The Case of the Ecuadorian Dollarization.” Historical Social Research 50 (July): 256299. https://doi.org/10.12759/HSR.50.2025.25.
2025 “The Structure of the Anti-Corruption Field" Villacis Byron in Garrido, Zaloznaya and Wilson (eds.) A Comparative Historical Sociology of Corruption. Cambridge Studies in Historical Sociology. Cambridge University Press. [In Production]
2024 “The Gender Composition of the Anti-Corruption Expertise.” Villacis Byron in Odilla, Tsimonis (eds.) Corruption and Anti-Corruption Upside Down. 95–119. Political Corruption and Governance. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66032-0_5.
2024 “Population Censuses in Crisis: United States, Brazil, and Ecuador in Comparative Perspective” Villacis Byron in Bartl, Suter, and Veira (eds.) The New Politics of the Census: Quantifying Populations and Identities, Institutional Autonomy, Innovation. 1st ed., 136–61. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003259749-8.
2024 “The Latin American Observatory of Population Censuses: Increasing statistical literacy through an academia-civil society network” Mendes Gabriel, Sacco Nicolas, Villacis Byron in Bartl, Suter, and Veira (eds.) The New Politics of the Census: Quantifying Populations and Identities, Institutional Autonomy, Innovation. 1st ed., 162–78. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003259749-9.
2022 “Statistical Innovation in the Global South: Mechanisms of Translation in Censuses of Brazil, Ecuador, Ghana and Sierra Leone.” Villacis Byron, Thiel Alena, Capistrano Daniel, and Carvalho Da Silva Christyne. Comparative Sociology 21 (4): 419–46. https://doi.org/10.1163/15691330-bja10060.
2021 “Experticia Estadística En La Administración Pública Ecuatoriana: Mecanismos de Emergencia y Legitimación.” Villacis Byron. Íconos - Revista de Ciencias Sociales, no. 71 (August), 81–102. https://doi.org/10.17141/iconos.71.2021.4841.
2021 “Resiliencia Impugnada: Los Efectos Del Terremoto de Manabí-Ecuador En La Predisposición a Participar En Espacios de Cooperación.” Villacis Byron, Vera David. Revista de Estudios Latinoamericanos Sobre Reducción Del Riesgo de Desastres REDER 5 (2): 125. https://doi.org/10.55467/reder.v5i2.75.
2020 “Desgoverno Estatístico” Villacis Byron in Botelho Luanda (eds.) Censo 2021. Experiências na América do Sul. ASSIBGE – SN Núcleo Sindical Chile.
2020 “Fuentes de Datos y Sistemas Estadísticos Nacionales” Villacis Byron, Rousset Yepez, Mendes Gabriel, Nathan Mathias. United Nations Population Fund. LC/CRPD.3/DDR/1 https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.18897.75362
2019 “Gender Politics in Latin American Censuses: The Case of Brazil and Ecuador.” Thome Debora, Villacis Byron in Texler, Kelly and Demos (eds.) Advances in Gender Research. 119–40. Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-212620190000028007.
2019 “Proyecciones de Población: Un Estudio Comparativo” Villacis Byron. Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.11348.00649
2018 “Microentrepreneurs in Mexico: Profiling Motivations and Preferences. Villacis Byron. Institute for Business and Social Impact, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.18058.89287
2013 “The Socioeconomic Paradox of Galapagos.” Villacis Byron, Carillo Daniela in Walsh, Mena (eds.) Science and Conservation in the Galapagos Islands. 1:69–85. Social and Ecological Interactions in the Galapagos Islands. New York, NY: Springer New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5794-7_4.
2012 (Book) País Atrevido: La Nueva Cara Socio-Demográfica del Ecuador. Villacis Byron, Carrillo Daniela, INEC. Quito -Ecuador
2012 (Book) Estadística Demográfica del Ecuador: Diagnóstico y Propuestas. Villacis Byron, Carrillo Daniela, INEC. Quito -Ecuador
For updates visit: https://byronvillacis.org/research/