Michael Best is an associate professor of economics at Columbia University. His research focuses on improving government effectiveness in low- and middle-income countries, particularly by improving tax compliance and bureaucratic performance. His research has been published in leading journals in economics including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the American Economic Review, and the Journal of Political Economy. He has developed research-policy partnerships with governments in Pakistan, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, and Mexico. Prior to joining Columbia, Michael was a postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Michael holds a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics and an M.Phil from the University of Oxford.
