Michael works at the University of Western Australia in Perth. Being originally from Germany, he received both his B.A. (2007) and his Ph.D. (2011) in Economics from the University of Memphis (USA). From 2011 to 2015, he worked at the Universidad EAFIT in Medellin, Colombia, first as an Assistant Professor and then as a Full Professor.

Michael's research interests are mostly related to Political Economy, Public Economics, Behavioral Economics, and Media Economics. His current projects focus on the drivers of terrorism and armed conflict, as well as issues related to the power of the media and gender differences in competitiveness and preferences.

He joined IZA as a Research Fellow in April 2013.