Maria 'Mica' Sviatschi is currently an Assistant Professor of Economics at Princeton University and a former Economics of Conflict Fellow with Princeton University and the International Crisis Group (2017-2018). She is an affiliate at the African School of Economics and the International Crisis Group. Her research interests are labor and development economics, with a focus on human capital, gender-violence and crime. One strand of her research explores how children start a criminal career in drug trafficking and gangs as well as the consequences of organized crime on economic development and state capacity. In particular, she has work on the development of criminal skills in drug trafficking organizations in Peru and gangs in El Salvador. In addition, she studies how criminal organizations such as gangs and drug trafficking groups affect household’s behavior and state presence in the areas they control. She is also working with governments to design and evaluate public policies in narcotraffic and gang controlled areas analyzing large administrative datasets . Another strand of her research studies the role of state capacity to deter and improve service-delivery to reduce gender-based violence. In particular, she is studying the effects of women police officers in Peru and India. In addition to this research, she has ongoing collaborative research projects in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Colombia, Jordan and the US.