Michael holds a PhD in Macroeconomics from the National University of Ireland. His thesis topic was on the Theory of Rationing. His Master's degree was from Southampton and was in Econometrics as well as Money and Banking. His first degree was in Mathematical Economics and Statistics from Trinity College, Dublin. His research is mainly on exchange rates, including the development of the euro. This has naturally led to work on the European Sovereign Bond market. In recent years, his research has moved sharply to applying microstructure finance concepts to macroeconomic problems. Always eclectic, he also takes an interest in issues surrounding Public Health such the life expectancy and fertility.
After 2 years as a civil servant, he joined the most successful organisation in the world at attracting direct foreign investment, IDA Ireland. He specialised in Pharmaceuticals, Fine Chemicals and Healthcare. He is adept at explaining to multinational companies why locating in Ireland is sound tax management. Following this he became a senior economist in the Central Bank of Ireland.
In 1990, he was appointed Professor of Finance at Queen's University, Belfast. He started the management school and succeeded in attracting major corporate gifts. He was a visiting professor for the 1999-2000 academic year at the University of California, Berkeley and again at Harvard University for the 2008-2009 academic year. He joined Warwick Business School in 2013.
He has taught courses in Macroeconomics, Financial Economics, Intermediate Finance as well as International Finance. He has published in the Journal of Monetary Economics, the Journal of Money Credit and Banking, the Economic Journal, the Review of Economic Studies and many other journals.

Research Interests