Michael was a British economist specialising in rural poverty in developing countries, including issues relating to land reform and urban bias. He spent much of his career at the University of Sussex, but also contributed to the work of international institutions, such as the World Bank’s 2000/2001 World Development Report on poverty.
He was reader, then professorial fellow, at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) from 1967 to 1994, and since 1994 was research professor at the University of Sussex’s Poverty Research Unit, which he founded.
