Research Interests: International relations, international political economy, comparative political economy, and the politics of trade, investment, regulation and corporate bailouts.

Michael Smith is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science. Michael's research interests lie at the intersection of comparative and international political economy and include examining the impact of political institutions, competition, and partisanship on trade, investment, regulatory, and bankruptcy and bailout policies. He is presently developing a dissertation that seeks to understand why some countries bail out ailing firms while others do not during common sectoral contractions.

While at Columbia University, Michael has been awarded the Edith C. Black Fellowship as well as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship. During prior studies at the University of Chicago and McGill University, where Michael received his MA and BA respectively, he received the Kaplan Prize for best master's thesis as well as the Saul and Freda Frankel prize for best graduating student's paper in the field of political thought.