Vidal Romero holds a BA in Law from the Universidad de Guadalajara, a Master’s degree in Public Policy from ITAM, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University. He is member of Mexico’s National Researchers System, Level II. He is affiliated faculty at the Center on Energy and Natural Resources at ITAM and Visiting Research Fellow at the Latin America and Caribbean Centre, at London School of Economics and Political Science. He was Tinker Professor at Stanford University. Romero has collaborated on different research projects with the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, The National Endowment for Democracy, Mexico Evalúa, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, and The Wilson Center.

His academic research has focused on decision-making and approval of presidents; the determinants of free market reforms; the political economy of fiscal decisions; the determinants of crime and violence; and the political economy of natural resources, energy and climate change.

His work has been published in multiple edited volumes and journals, such as Política y Gobierno, Latin American Research Review, Revista Latinoamericana de Opinión Pública, Latin American Politics and Society, Revista de Ciencia Política, Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, and Political Research Quarterly.