Juan Vargas is Professor of Economics at Universidad del Rosario, where he was named Distinguished Professor in 2014. He is also the network director of the America Latina Crime and Policy Network (AL CAPONE) and board member of Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP). He holds a PhD in Economics from Royal Holloway, University of London and has held visiting academic positions at NYU, Harvard, and UCLA. His main interests lie in the areas of political economy and development, focusing particularly on the causes and consequences of violent armed conflict, the economics of crime and the interplay between political and economic, formal and informal institutions in the process of state-building. In 2018, Juan obtained the biennial "Juan Luis Londoño Prize", awarded to the best Colombian economist under 40.