Juan Vargas is Professor of Economics at Universidad del Rosario, Colombia and Senior Research Economist at CAF-Development Bank of Latin America. He holds a PhD in Economics from Royal Holloway, University of London (2007) and has held visiting positions at the University of Bergamo, (2015), the Inter-American Development Bank (2013), the Institute of Development Studies (2011), UCLA (2007-2008) and Harvard University (2005-2007). His main research interest is the political economy of development, focusing particularly on the causes and consequences of violent armed conflict and on urban crime. He has worked with international institutions like the World Bank and USAID in evaluating large government security policies in Colombia. He has published his work in leading academic journals like Review of Economic Studies, Science, The Economic Journal, Management Science and the Journal of Conflict Resolution. Juan is currently Associate Editor of Conflict Management and Peace Science, Defense and Peace Economics, Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy and The Economics of Peace and Security Journal, and has coedited various special issues on the Colombian conflict.