Matt Collin

Hi there! I am an Anglo-American economist currently based in Paris, where I am a Senior Researcher (Economist) at the EU Tax Observatory at the Paris School of Economics and the Centre for Tax Research (SKATTEFORSK) at NMBU. I am also a Non-Resident Fellow at both the Brookings Institution and the Center for Global Development and a Visiting Fellow at the LSE International Inequalities Institute.

Until recently I worked at the World Bank in their Fiscal Policy and Sustainable Growth unit. Prior to that I was a David M. Rubenstein Fellow at the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution. I was also both a Young Professional and later an economist in both the World Bank's Global Tax Team and in the office of the Chief Economist for Human Development. I've also worked as a Research Fellow at the Center for Global Development, a Research Officer at the Centre for the Study of African Economies, and as a Budget Officer (ODI Fellow) in the Ministry of Finance in Malawi. 

My research and policy work is currently focused on curbing illicit financial flows, particularly those from developing countries. I work in the space between cross-border tax evasion and anti-money laundering (AML) policy, where my goal is to ensure that policies in this space are data and evidence-based wherever possible. I also work on a number of more tradition development economics topics, ranging from land rights to child marriage. 

My academic background is also in economics: I completed a DPhil (PhD) in Economics at the University of Oxford, where I also studied for an MSc in Economics for Development. I also hold a BA in Economics and Mathematics (double-degree) from Clemson University in South Carolina. 

I also founded a blog - with my friend Ranil Dissanayake - to cover broad issues in development, economics and international aid policy, called Aid Thoughts. More recently, Ranil and I have started a podcast called Paper Round, where we discuss important new papers in the space of development and economics. 

In my spare time I enjoy filmmaking and DJing. In 2020 I completed a Graduate Diploma in Documentary Filmmaking at George Washington University, where I also worked on the political documentary The Good Candidate as both a director of photography and as an editor. I occasionally DJ in the odd dive bar in DC - you can find my mixes on SoundCloud. 

You can contact me at mattcollin - at - gmail.com or at matthew.collin - at - psemail.eu