About
Lawrence King is a professor in the Department of Economics at UMass Amherst with a distinguished background in sociology and political economy. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His research interests encompass comparative political economy, the political economy of health, development, comparative historical sociology, post-communist transition, methodology, theory, complex organizations, and industrial organization. He has held prominent editorial roles, including co-editor and associate editor of the Cambridge Journal of Economics, and serves on the editorial board of EMECON. King has been involved in various academic leadership positions, such as Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Cambridge's Department of Sociology and chair of the Research/REF Committee. His work has been supported by numerous grants from prestigious institutions, and he has received awards including the American Sociological Association Economic Sociology Section's Granovettor Best Paper Prize. King's research has significantly contributed to understanding the social determinants of health, the impact of international financial institutions like the IMF on socio-economic development and health outcomes, and the political economy of structural adjustment and privatization. His publications address issues such as health policy, corruption, globalization, and development, with findings covered by major media outlets. His extensive scholarly work reflects a focus on how economic policies and political structures influence social and health inequalities worldwide.
Research topics
- Sociology
- Economics
- Medicine
- Demography
- Development economics
- Social Science
- Political Science
- Environmental health
- Political economy
- Criminology
- Econometrics
- Geography
- Business
- Anthropology
- Economic growth
- Law
Selected publications
European Journal of Sociology · 2026-04-06
articleOpen accessSenior authorFigshare · 2026-01-01
articleOpen accessThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been one of the world’s most powerful international organisations in setting the parameters for economic reforms in the developing world. In this study, using annual cross-national data from 1980–2019, we investigate the impact of the IMF’s lending programmes on poverty incidence in participant countries. Departing from the prevailing practice of relying on instrumental variables, we employ a novel difference-in-differences approach that ensures clean comparisons between ‘treatment’ and ‘control’ units based on their programme participation histories. Besides providing a quantitative estimate of the average programme effect, we evaluate whether the IMF’s alleged anti-poverty focus in recent decades has made any difference. We find that IMF programme participation leads to large increases (4.2-5 percent of the total population) in the proportion of a country’s population living under the $6.85/day international poverty line (2017 PPP) and the country-specific Societal Poverty Line. We also find that the poverty reduction measures incorporated by the IMF into its programmes have not been effective in mitigating the poverty-increasing programme effects. Overall, our findings suggest that IMF programmes have been detrimental to the welfare of vulnerable populations in participant countries.
Figshare · 2026-01-01
articleOpen accessThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been one of the world’s most powerful international organisations in setting the parameters for economic reforms in the developing world. In this study, using annual cross-national data from 1980–2019, we investigate the impact of the IMF’s lending programmes on poverty incidence in participant countries. Departing from the prevailing practice of relying on instrumental variables, we employ a novel difference-in-differences approach that ensures clean comparisons between ‘treatment’ and ‘control’ units based on their programme participation histories. Besides providing a quantitative estimate of the average programme effect, we evaluate whether the IMF’s alleged anti-poverty focus in recent decades has made any difference. We find that IMF programme participation leads to large increases (4.2-5 percent of the total population) in the proportion of a country’s population living under the $6.85/day international poverty line (2017 PPP) and the country-specific Societal Poverty Line. We also find that the poverty reduction measures incorporated by the IMF into its programmes have not been effective in mitigating the poverty-increasing programme effects. Overall, our findings suggest that IMF programmes have been detrimental to the welfare of vulnerable populations in participant countries.
The Journal of Development Studies · 2026-02-18 · 1 citations
articleOpen accessBMJ Open · 2025-01-01 · 6 citations
articleOpen accessPurpose Bangladesh has experienced a rapid epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in recent decades. There is, however, limited evidence about multidimensional determinants of NCDs in this population. The BangladEsh Longitudinal Investigation of Emerging Vascular and nonvascular Events (BELIEVE) study is a household-based prospective cohort study established to investigate biological, behavioural, environmental and broader determinants of NCDs. Participants Between January 2016 and March 2020, 73 883 participants (aged 11 years or older) were recruited from 30 817 households across urban, urban-poor (‘slum’) and rural settings in Bangladesh. A structured questionnaire was administered by trained personnel recording participants’ demographic, socioeconomic, behavioural, medical, environmental and other factors. Anthropometric measurements and blood pressure were recorded for each participant. Biological specimens were collected and aliquoted for long-term storage and analysis. Findings to date Of the 73 883 study participants (mean [SD] baseline age: 39 [15] years), 43 470 (59%) were females, and 38 848 (52%) had no or only primary-level education. Focusing only on the 65 822 adult participants aged 20–79 years at baseline, 15 411 (23%) reported being diagnosed with hypertension; 10 578 (16%) with type 2 diabetes and 7624 (12%) with hypercholesterolaemia. Age and sex-standardised prevalences of these conditions were much higher in urban than slum and rural settings. Overall, the mean (SD) body mass index (BMI) was 25 (5) kg/m 2 , with 10 442 (16%) participants aged 20–79, classified as obese (ie, BMI≥30 kg/m 2 ). Mean BMI was also higher in urban than slum and rural areas. Future plans The collection of information during the baseline visit was completed in 2020. Regular longitudinal follow-up is ongoing for ascertainment and adjudication of a range of fatal and non-fatal health outcomes among participants. This cohort will provide a powerful resource to investigate multidimensional determinants of incident NCDs across diverse settings in Bangladesh, helping to advance scientific discovery and public health action in an archetypal low-middle-income country with pressing public health needs.
SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01
preprintOpen access1st authorCorrespondingEuropean Journal of Sociology · 2025-12-01 · 1 citations
articleOpen accessSenior authorAbstract Social reproduction scholars have made headway in integrating the analysis of capitalism, class, gender, and care. We offer two contributions to this literature. First, we provide a novel framework with insights into companies as sites of decommodification, shaping childcare cost distribution and affecting childbearing rates. Second, we extend social reproduction research geographically to the oft-overlooked region of Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe is home to 15 of the world’s 20 fastest-declining populations, with low fertility as a prime cause. We argue that privatization catalyzes commodification, raising work intensity and financial-temporal uncertainty and eroding collective resources for social reproduction, thereby impacting childbearing. We explore this mechanism quantitatively by employing four distinct definitions of privatization across two datasets: one covering 52 Hungarian towns (1989–2006) and another spanning 29 postsocialist countries (1989–2012). We shed light on the details of the mechanism through a qualitative analysis of 82 life-history interviews in four Hungarian towns, surveying the lived experience of privatization.
Discovering a transformative cancer drug: the case of ibrutinib
Drug Discovery Today · 2025-11-20
articlePublic Health · 2024-07-15 · 1 citations
articleOpen accessOBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine whether family poverty over the early childhood, adolescent, and adult periods of the life course independently predicts experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) in adulthood. STUDY DESIGN: This was a birth cohort study in Brisbane, Australia, with pregnant women recruited at their first booking-in visit and their children, followed up to 30 and 40 years of age. METHODS: Family income was obtained from the mother when the child was 6 months, 5 and 14 years of age. Offspring reported their own family income at 21, 30, and 40 years of age. The offspring completed the Composite Abuse Scale at 30 and 40 years. Adjusted logistic regression models are used to predict experiences of IPV at 30 (n = 2157) and 40 (n = 1438) years. RESULTS: The findings at 30 and 40 years of age are consistent. Only poverty experienced concurrently with the assessment of IPV is strongly associated. At the 40-year follow-up, family poverty predicts higher ratios of all four forms of IPV; severe combined abuse (odds ratio [OR] = 2.24, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.24, 4.05), physical abuse (OR = 3.37, 95% CI = 1.95, 5.82), emotional abuse (OR = 2.09, 95% CI = 2.58, 8.57) and harassment (OR = 4.70, 95% CI = 2.58, 8.57). CONCLUSION: Concurrent family poverty is strongly and consistently associated with patterns of IPV. These associations are for cross-sectionally collected data with the prospectively collected data not replicating these findings. Although it is not possible to identify a specific causal pathway, the findings suggest that the immediate consequences of poverty are strongly associated with IPV. Programmes that address poverty reduction provide the best prospect for reducing societal levels of IPV.
Social Democracy: A Research Agenda
Nordisk välfärdsforskning | Nordic Welfare Research · 2024-03-18 · 1 citations
articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
Frequent coauthors
- 47 shared
Martin McKee
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
- 45 shared
Thomas Stubbs
Royal Holloway University of London
- 43 shared
Alexander Kentikelenis
Bocconi University
- 41 shared
David Stuckler
Bocconi University
- 27 shared
Bernhard Reinsberg
University of Glasgow
- 21 shared
Mihály Fazekas
Central European University
- 17 shared
Darja Irdam
- 17 shared
Gábor Scheiring
Education
- 1997
Ph.D Sociology
University of Southern California
- 1992
M.A. Sociology
University of Southern California
- 1989
B.A. Political Science
University of Michigan
Awards & honors
- Winner of American Sociological Association Economic Sociolo…
- ESRC Impact Accelerator Award, 2016
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