Dr. Godoy is a cultural anthropologist who draws on insights from evolutionary biology and economic theory to formulate hypotheses about the effects of market exposure, globalization, or modernization on the well-being and the use of natural resources of indigenous people. He collaborates with biological and cultural anthropologists from Northwestern University, the University of Georgia, and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in a study called the Tsimane¿ Amazonian Panel Study (TAPS). The research team carries out annual survey waves in which they measure a wide range of socioeconomic, demographic, health, and psychological indicators.

Besides Bolivia and the study of globalization, he has done and continues to do randomized control trials of a wide range of interventions among native Amazonians in Bolivia.