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Dr. Michael King

Assistant Professor (Economics)
      
Profile Photo

Dr. Michael King

Assistant Professor (Economics)

 Michael.King@tcd.ie

 


Michael King is Assistant Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin. His research is on the microeconomics of development with a focus on financial inclusion, social protection and gender. Michael is a co-founder and director of the Trinity Impact Evaluation Research Centre (TIME) and regularly contributes to the literature on development policy. His large scale research project spans nine countries; Kenya, India, ireland, Malawi, Mexico, Nigeria, Mauritania, the US and Zambia. Michael has previously worked as Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for International Integration Studies (2007-2012), economist with Forfás and the National Competitiveness Council in Dublin (2016-2017) and is the founder and former Chief Executive Officer (2001-2004) of Dublin based international development agency Suas Educational Development. Michael holds a Masters in economics and international development (MPA/ID) from Harvard University and a BA and PhD in economics from Trinity College Dublin. Michael has been awarded the O'Reilly Foundation Scholarship (2003), the Fulbright Scholarship (2004), the John F. Kennedy Scholarship (2004) and the Provost Teaching Award (2017).
  African Economics   Development economics   Development in Africa   ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE   Economic Competitiveness   Economic Development   ECONOMIC EVALUATION   ECONOMIC HISTORY   Economic policy making   Finance   financial crises   FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT   Financial Services Regulation   International development   International economics, finance, trade and development   Irish economy, problems   Microeconomics   Political Economics/Economy
Project Title
 Graduation out of Poverty and Gender Dynamics in Malawi
From
2017
To
2021
Summary
Funding Agency
Concern Worldwide
Project Type
Research
Project Title
 Text Messaging for Financial Behaviour Change in Zambia
From
2017
To
2019
Summary
Working with Natsave, Zambia, this project employs a novel text-messaging-based intervention to: 1) identify the behavioral barriers that lead to low engagement with formal financial services amongst those using the services; and 2) test strategies to help people overcome those barriers to increase engagement and financial security. Additionally, the study will provide the first evidence on the impact of conversational, two-way text messaging designed to encourage savings and improve loan repayment behaviors through Q&A capabilities and efforts to enhance trust in formal financial products. The study is working with 84,000 Natsave customers and involves both phone surveys and in-person surveys.
Funding Agency
World Bank i2i Fund
Programme
Impact Evaluation to Development Impact (i2i)
Project Title
 Flexible Loans and Locked Savings for Female Market Vendors in India
From
2017
To
2021
Summary
Financing Working Capital for Female Vendors in India
Funding Agency
Innovation for Poverty Action
Programme
Financial Inclusion Programme
Project Title
 Financial Inclusion and Financial Sector Development in Kenya
From
Nov 2013
To
Dec 2015
Summary
This research programme will investigate important issues such as the interaction between poverty and financial inclusion, the geospatial dimensions of financial access, the impact of new financial services and the changing role of mobile banking services. The research programme will have a special focus on assessing the impact of new financial products and related technologies.
Funding Agency
Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Kenya
Project Title
 Policy Coherence for Development
From
June 2006
To
May 2010
Summary
With the support of The Advisory Board for Irish Aid (ABIA), IIIS is conducting a four year research programme (2007-2010) on the coherence of various aspects of Irish government domestic policy with the objectives of Irish Aid to reduce poverty in developing countries in line with our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. The research programme is comprised of two phases. In phase one an extensive survey of the activities of all Irish Government Departments will be conducted to identify policy areas that affect developing countries. The findings of this scoping research will be published in mid-2008. Phase two comprises in-depth research into a number of key PCD issues identified by the scoping research report and will be concluded in 2010. The IIIS/ABIA research will be widely disseminated to policy makers and members of the development community through open presentations and publications.
Funding Agency
ABIA

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Details Date
Research Associate, Trinity Research in Social Science (TRISS)
Details Date From Date To
Research Affiliate, Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA) 2016
Member, American Economic Association 2013
European Economics Association 2013
Michael King, Paolina Medina, Roland Umanan, and Benjamin Radoc, What Matters for Consumer Credit Choice? Non-standard disclosures in the Philippine Digital Credit Market, TCD, 2025, Dataset, PUBLISHED  URL
Michael King, Tara Bedi and Julia Vaillant, Gender Focused Evaluation of a Multi-faceted Anti-poverty Programme for the Ultra Poor: Longitudinal Dataset from Rural Malawi, Concern Worldwide, 2024, Dataset, PUBLISHED  URL
Michael King, Daniel Putman, Shane Byrne and Chaning Jang, Navigating the Rise in Non-Institutional Digital Fraud: An Experiment with Micro Enterprises in Nigeria, 2024, Working Paper, PUBLISHED  URL
King Michael, Chaning Jang, Daniel Putman and Shane Byrne, Strategies for Reducing Non-Institutional Fraud and Building Trust in a Digital Market Platform: Evidence from a Lab Study in Nigeria, Innovation for Poverty Action, 2023, Dataset, PUBLISHED  URL
Shane Byrne, Kenneth Devine, Michael King, Yvonne McCarthy and Christopher Palmer, The Last Mile of Monetary Policy: Inattention, Reminders, and the Refinancing Channel, 2023, Working Paper, PUBLISHED  URL
King, Michael, Bedi, Tara and Anu Jose, Joint Accounts in the Fintech Era: How Does Labelling, Transparency and Approval Rules Affect Spousal Financial, Trinity College Dublin , 2022, Dataset, PUBLISHED  URL
King, Michael, Bhanot, Syon and Siegfried Zottel, Two-way Text Messaging for Financial Behavior Change in Zambia, World Bank, 2022, Dataset, PUBLISHED  URL
Inequality and Poverty in, editor(s)John O'Hagan, Francis O'Toole and Ciara Whelan , The Economy of Ireland: Policy Making in a Global Context, London, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021, [Michael King], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED  URL
Michael King, Tara Bedi, Impact of the 2019 Malawi Floods, Trinity College Dublin, TIME, 2021, Dataset, PUBLISHED  URL
King, Michael and Anuj Singh, Understanding Farmer's Valuation of Agricultural Insurance: Evidence from Viet Nam, Food Policy, 94, (101861 3), 2020, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
  

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Tara Bedi, Anu Puthenmadathil Jose, Michael King, How Does Workfare, Labelling, Transparency and Approval Rules Affect Spousal Financial Decision Making, 2023, Notes: [Trinity Economic Paper #TEP1323], Working Paper, PUBLISHED
Formal Financial Inclusion in Kenya: Understanding the Demand-Side Constraints in, editor(s)Amrik Heyer and Michael King , Kenya's Financial Transformation in the 21st Century, Nairobi, Kenya, FSD Kenya, 2015, [M. King], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Niels Keijzer, Michael King, Alan Matthews and Eunike Spierings, Measuring Policy Coherence for Development: Study on Modernising the Comparability of Donor Contributions Post-2015, Maastricht, The Netherlands, ECDPM, 2012, Report, PUBLISHED
Niels Keijzer and Michael King, Monitoring the Effects of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) in Developing Countries, London, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), 2012, Report, PUBLISHED
Michael King and Alan Matthews, Policy Coherence for Development : Indicators for Ireland, Dublin, Institute for International Integration Studies, 2012, 1, 101, Report, PUBLISHED
Keijzer, N., King, M., Spierings, E., Matthews, A. , Measuring Policy Coherence for Development, Maastricht, Netherlands, European Centre for Development Policy Management, May, 2012, 58, Report, PUBLISHED
Niels Keijzer and Michael King, Monitoring the Effects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Developing Countries, London, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), 2012, Report, PUBLISHED
Michael King, The Unbanked Four-fifths: Informality and Barriers to Banking Services in Nigeria, 2012, Notes: [IIIS Discussion Paper 411], Working Paper, PUBLISHED
Michael King, Is Mobile Banking Breaking the Tyranny of Distance to Bank Infrastructure? Evidence from Kenya, 2012, Notes: [IIIS Discussion Paper 412], Working Paper, PUBLISHED
Ireland's Treasure by National Competitiveness in, editor(s)Ed Burke and Ronan Lyons , Next Generation Ireland, Dublin, Blackhall Publishing, 2011, pp91 - 114, [Michael King], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED

  


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Award Date
Provost Teaching Award 2017
Provost Teaching Award Commendation 2016
O'Reilly Scholarship 2004
John F. Kennedy Scholarship 2004
Fulbright Scholarship (awarded) 2004