I've been an economics professor for 30 years. Long ago I specialized in comparative economics, going on to do a lot of research on the system of central planning and the Soviet economy. Back then I lived for a while in Gorbachev's Soviet Union and spoke Russian. After the Soviet economy disappeared I spent a few years researching the transition from communism but realized that I needed to make a career transition. At the time I had a Colombian PhD student who wanted to work on the Colombian conflict. So I wrote a few papers with him and quickly got hooked on armed conflict research. I've been researching war now for twenty years and expect to keep going for at least twenty more.My year-long economics of warfare course is my pride and joy. I've taught lots of different courses over the years including microeconomics, macroeconomics, comparative economics, political economy and transition economics but my warfare course is by far my all-time favourite.I try to engage to make the world a better place through activities like being on the Board for Every Casualty and Action on Armed Violence and also through my blog (https://mikespagat.wordpress.com/) and twitter feed (@Michael_Spagat)I've also done a lot of administrative work including stints as Head of Department, PostGraduate Director, Research Director and Head of several hiring committees.