
Michal Fabinger
Educator and Researcher
Ph.D. Physics (Theoretical Physics: String Theory), Stanford University
Ph.D. Economics (International Economics, Firm Behavior), Harvard University
Michal is the main person responsible for this school's operations and teaching.
Michal conducted research on high-energy theoretical physics (string theory), international trade, international finance, industrial organization, spatial economics, and other subjects. At the University of Tokyo and the Pennsylvania State University, Michal taught courses on Deep Learning, Data Science, Asset Pricing, International Trade, and International Finance.
Michal started his research as an undergraduate at Charles University in Prague, collaborating on a string theory project with Petr Hořava, then at Caltech. He completed his physics Ph.D. under the supervision of Eva Silverstein at Stanford. At that time he also extensively traveled to developing countries and learned about the living conditions there.
After a short postdoc at the IAS in Princeton, Michal joined Harvard University as a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. Meeting Ben Olken there convinced him that academic research can play an important role in improving conditions in developing countries. Since he felt he still had much to learn, Michal completed a Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University. His primary advisor was Gita Gopinath, now the Chief Economist at the IMF. Similarly, Michal spent a substantial amount of time on other data-intensive subjects, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Traveling to the Philippines as a part of Yasuyuki Sawada's Development Economics research team convinced Michal that there is room for an independent institution/school that could solve many problems that are currently left unsolved. You are now reading its first website.
The institution is starting from a modest size, but it is backed by more than a decade of intensive learning. It has been designed to grow over time and to make contributions to education, research, and policy discussions. The focus is on contributions that would be hard or impossible to make at existing institutions either due to the rigidity of their internal structure or due to a lack of motivation to address socially important problems.
Michal has three children: two boys and a girl.
Announcements page on Michal's personal website.