Prior to George Mason University, Candela taught in the Department of Economics at Brown University, where he was also a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Political Theory Project. He was also a Visiting Professor of Economics at Universidad Francisco Marroquin, and a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute.

His edited books include A Companion to F.A Hayek and Institutions and Incentives in Public Policy: An Analytical Assessment of Non-Market Decision-Making (with Rosemarie Fike and Roberta Herzberg). He is a contributor to numerous scholarly books and journals, including Journal of Contextual Economics, Journal of Institutional Economics, Public Choice, Southern Economic Journal, European Journal of Law and Economics, International Review of Law and Economics, Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, The Independent Review, Social Philosophy and Policy, Journal of Private Enterprise, Il Pensiero Economico Italiano, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Faith and Economics, Review of Political Economy, Advances in Austrian Economic, Studies In Emergent Order, and Atlantic Economic Journal. His popular articles have appeared in such publications as the Boston Herald, Washington Times, EconLog, and Boston Globe.