I am a development economist and professor at the Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego, California, where I direct graduate programs in Humanitarian Action and Peace & Justice. My research interests include the economics of peace and conflict, illicit markets (especially for firearms), and human predation of environmental systems. In addition to consulting for various organizations including the World Bank, Mercy Corps, and the International Rescue Committee, I have been a research affiliate at the Centre on Conflict, Development & Peacebuilding (CCDP) at the Graduate Institute for International & Development Studies (Geneva, Switzerland), a principal of the Small Arms Data Observatory (SADO), and an invited scholar-in-residence at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and Tecnológico de Monterrey. My first book, The Political Economy of Rural-Urban Conflict: Predation, Production, and Peripheries (Oxford, 2017), explained how trade networks shape the nature and extent of civil war violence. I received a PhD and MCP from MIT, and a BA from Swarthmore College.
California is about to tax guns more like alcohol and tobacco
May 22, 2024 06:21 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics Law
Starting in July 2024, California will be the first state to charge an excise tax on guns and ammunition. The new tax an 11% levy on each sale will come on top of federal excise taxes of 10% or 11% for firearms and...
Delivering aid during war is tricky − here’s what to know about what Gaza relief operations may face
Oct 23, 2023 08:18 am UTC| Insights & Views
The 2.2 million people who live in Gaza are facing economic isolation and experiencing incessant bombardment. Their supplies of essential resources, including food and water, are quickly dwindling. In response, U.S....
Oct 15, 2023 04:03 am UTC| Insights & Views
International aid groups are warning that they cannot deliver food and other basic services to people in the Gaza Strip and that a dire humanitarian crisis is set to worsen. International aid groups provide food and...
Nintendo Switch 2 Reportedly in Mass Production, March 2025 Release Date Hinted by Industry Analysts