Michael Findley

Michael Findley is the Erwin Centennial Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin, with additional appointments at the McCombs School of Business and LBJ School of Public Affairs. He directs the Innovations for Peace and Development (IPD) initiative and is a member of the Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) network.

• Education: Ph.D. from University of Illinois

His interdisciplinary research spans political violence, international development, illicit finance, ethics, and computational modeling. Fieldwork spans Colombia, Afghanistan, Kenya, DRC, Sudan, South Sudan, South Africa, and Uganda, with policy collaborations including the World Bank, USAID, UN agencies (Peacebuilding Fund, UNDP, UNICEF), and African Development Bank.

Recent publications address financial regulation in global corporate transparency (Management Science, AJPS), conflict dynamics in resource-rich environments (International Studies Quarterly), and ethical frameworks in field research (PNAS). His work employs innovative experimental methods, including global field experiments on corporate compliance and survey experiments on aid targeting.

• Scientific Awards:
  • Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar
  • Provost's Teaching Fellow

Findley co-founded Evaluasi, a startup focused on social impact evaluation, and has contributed to AidData's georeferenced aid tracking systems. His teaching includes courses on civil wars, political violence, and applied research methods.