Professor Michael Love wearing a suit jacket and smiling

Michael Love

  • Associate Professor of Law
Education

Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
J.D., Yale Law School, 2012
A.B., Harvard College, 2008

Areas of Specialty

Tax Law
Tax Policy and Public Finance
Empirical Analysis of Law
Law and Economics

Michael Love is an economist and legal scholar who studies tax law and public policy. His research focuses on U.S. business taxation, where he uses economic theory, econometrics, and data science to answer questions involving such topics as the distributional effects of business taxation, the role of partnerships in business structures, the interaction of taxation and corporate finance, and tax avoidance through the use of business entities.

Love joined the Columbia Law School faculty as associate professor of law on January 1, 2023. He has previously worked for the White House Council of Economic Advisors, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the Joint Committee on Taxation within the U.S. Congress. He also practiced tax at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. 

He completed his Ph.D. in economics at the University of California, Berkeley.

Publications

Working Papers:

Equity Financing, Dividend Taxes and Corporate ‘Non-Capital’ Investment (Best Paper Award, Oxford Centre for Business Taxation 2020 Doctoral Conference)

Where in the World Does Partnership Income Go? Evidence of a Growing Use of Tax Havens

Needed in Empirical Social Science: Numbers (with Aaron Edlin)

Tax Avoidance Through Corporate Accounting: Insights for Corporate Tax Bases (with Eric Heiser and Jacob Mortenson)

The Paycheck Protection Program: Progressivity and Tax Effects (with David Splinter, Eric Heiser and Jacob Mortenson)

Other Publications: 

  • “A Perfect Storm for Corporate Inversions: Causes and Responses,” 43 Tax Mgmt. Int’l J. 671 (2014), with Deborah L. Paul.

Honors and Awards

Burch Center Fellowship

2017–2018 and 2020–2021

LEAP Fellowship

2020 and 2021

Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, University of California, Berkeley

2020

Heyman Fellowship

2012–2013

Dept. of Economics Award for Research in Public Policy, U.C. Berkeley

2022

Economics, and Politics Center Fellowship, U.C. Berkeley

2020 & 2021

Heyman Fellowship, Yale Law School

2012-13

Harvard College Scholarship

2006-08

Alex G. Booth Fellowship for Thesis Research

2007

Elizabeth C. Agassiz Scholarship for Summer Research

2006

John Harvard Scholarship

2005-06

Professional Experience

Joint Committee on Taxation, Washington, DC

Economic Research Analyst – 2021-Present 

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York, NY

Associate – 2013-2017 

U.S. Treasury, Office of International Finance, Washington, D.C. Heyman Fellow – 2012-2013 

White House, Council of Economic Advisors, Washington, D.C. Research Assistant, Labor & Macroeconomics – 2008-2009 

Office of Governor Tim Kaine, Richmond, VA

Policy Fellow – 2008 

World Bank, Praetoria, South Africa

Short-Term Consultant – 2006, 2007 

Publications

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