Rute Martins Caeiro, a development economist, is a Research Associate at UNU-WIDER. Her research aims to identify economic mechanisms with the potential to inform policy design, particularly in the context of rural development. The core of her work relies on field experiments that she has designed and implemented to study a range of economic issues, including the adoption of agricultural technologies, the role of peer effects in technology diffusion, and how social capital is shaped by policy interventions. Most recently, her research has also focused on the relationship between trust and governance outcomes.