Michael Best

Michael Best is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at Columbia University. As well as a Faculty Research Fellow in the Public Economics and Development Economics groups at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); a Research Associate in Public Economics and a Research Fellow in Development Economics at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); an Affiliate of the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), and the Center for Development Economics and Policy (CDEP) at Columbia; and an International Research Fellow of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), London.

His research focuses on tax evasion in low and middle-income countries and its implications for optimal tax policy and administration; the determinants of the effectiveness of public procurement in low and middle income countries and the design of policies to improve it; and the effects of tax policy in developed countries and the design of optimal tax policies. Michael Best’s research projects have addressed these issues in Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, and the UK.

Previously, he was also a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, and earned his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics.