Michael Callen is an Associate Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics. His research focuses on development economics, political economy, and behavioral economics. He serves as co-director of the State Capabilities Program and the lead academic for the Fragile States Initiative at the International Growth Centre. Additionally, he is the Scientific Director for Inclusion Economics – Nepal, a research associate at the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), and a board member at the Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES). Callen also currently serves on the editorial boards of the Review of Economic Studies and the Journal of the European Economic Association and is a co-editor at VoxDev. His research affiliations include the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), and Empirical Studies of Conflict (ESOC). He received his PhD from the University of California San Diego and his BSc from the London School of Economics.

His research focuses on how governments can function more effectively in environments marked by weak institutions, political exclusion, and conflict. Much of his work studies how incentives, organizational design, and accountability mechanisms shape the performance of public officials, the delivery of public services, and state legitimacy. Using large-scale field experiments and close partnerships with governments and implementing organizations, he has examined issues such as corruption and electoral manipulation, public sector performance, digital payment systems, and the design of policies that improve state effectiveness. This research has directly informed policy debates and program design in areas such as election integrity, public sector reform, social protection, and humanitarian response.