About

I am an Associate Professor in the School of International, Political, and Urban Studies at Universidad del Rosario, Bogota, Colombia. I earned my Ph.D and M.A in political science from Northwestern University, and my Bz.A from Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. 

My research interests include social policy, the political economy of inequality, the politics of infrastructure, and state formation. My work has been published in World Development, Latin American Politics and Society, Studies in Comparative International Development, Geoforum, Health Affairs, Revista de Ciencia Política, among other outlets.  

My first book project Subnational Inequality in Latin America, asks why are some countries more successful than others at reducing subnational inequalities in education and health. I suggest that two strategies characterize social policy sectors in which territorial equalization has occurred: controlled decentralization, and place-sensitive policy development. The book studies several cases in Colombia and Peru using a mixed methods approach. 

My second book project Unequal Cities: The role of elites in income inequality trajectories in Urban Latin America investigates why some cities in Colombia reduce income inequality at a faster pace than others. With an extensive analysis of household income data, labor statistics, educational outcomes, and economic trends, the book identifies the specific trajectory each city followed to reduce its inequality. By matching this with qualitative comparative methods and process tracing, the book develops a theory on the role of different types of local elites in the outcomes. 

I have worked on other interdisciplinary projects in the past few years. The project Rebel Roads (with Simón Uribe and Isabel Peñaranda) asked about the hundreds of roads that the former rebel group FARC built or sponsored in its areas of operation. The project Subnational Policies for the Containment of Covid-19 in Latin America, studied the variation in subnational responses to the pandemic as part of the Observatory for the Containment of Covid-19 in the Americas of University of Miami.

I enjoy innovating in the classroom, where I teach a variety of topics to grad and undergrad students in international relations, political science, and urban management.