Maria Micaela Sviatschi is currently an Instructor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University, where next year she will be an Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Affairs. Her research focuses on development economics with a focus on human capital, labour, and crime. She is particularly interested in how conditions during childhood and adolescence, such as exposure to illegal labour markets and gangs, affect individuals’ long-term outcomes such as participation in illegal industries, engaging in violence against the state and state legitimacy. In particular, her research has explored how policies can reduce the development of criminal skills that perpetuate illegal labour markets in developing countries. She has ongoing collaborative research projects in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Turkey, and the U.S. She received her PhD in economics from Columbia University. She has also conducted policy evaluations for the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank.