J. Michael Collins

About

J. Michael Collins is the Fetzer Family Chair in Consumer & Personal Finance in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is also a Professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs, a family economics specialist for the Division of Extension, the Associate Director for Training and Research at the Institute for Research on Poverty, and an affiliate of the Center for Demography and Ecology, the UW Survey Center, and the School of Social Work. From 2018 to 2025, he developed and led the UW Retirement and Disability Research Consortium research center. Collins's research focuses on consumer decision-making in the financial marketplace, particularly the role of public policy in influencing credit, savings, and investment choices. He is involved in studies of household finance and well-being supported by leading foundations and federal agencies. In addition to co-authoring the textbook Financial Capability and Asset Building: A Textbook for Professionals (Oxford Press, with Birkemeier and Sherraden), he edited the volume A Fragile Balance: Emergency Savings and Liquid Resources for Low-Income Consumers. Collins brings two decades of applied experience and consulting to his research, having co-founded SpringFour, an online resource for people facing financial challenges. He has also worked for NeighborWorks America (Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation) and the Millennial Housing Commission. He holds a Masters from the John F. Kennedy School of…

Research topics

• Finance
• Economics
• Psychology
• Demographic economics
• Sociology
• Business
• Demography
• Medicine
• Mathematics education
• Applied psychology

Selected publications

• Experiential financial education: A field study of my classroom economy in elementary schools

  Economics of Education Review · 2020 · 47 citations

  DOI

• Financial Coaching in Practice: Findings From a Survey of Financial Coaches

  Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning · 2021 · 13 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Allowances: Incidence in the US and Relationship to Financial Capability in Young Adulthood

  Journal of Family and Economic Issues · 2021 · 12 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  DOI

• “I Don’t Like All Those Fees” Pragmatism About Financial Services Among Low-Income Parents

  Journal of Family and Economic Issues · 2022 · 11 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Basic financial services facilitate people's ability to manage their finances, save, and receive payments from employers or the government. Drawing on survey data as well as qualitative interviews with 80 mothers with limited incomes, we find that parents take a pragmatic view and use a wide range of financial services to meet their needs including fintech, prepaid cards, and mobile phone-based solutions, as well as traditional banks. Mistrust in institutions is an important factor in shaping th…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Inequality in high-cost borrowing and unemployment insurance generosity in US states during the COVID-19 pandemic

  Nature Human Behaviour · 2024-07-11 · 10 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Collin O’Rourke

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  44 shared

• Carly Urban

  Montana State University

  29 shared

• Maximilian D. Schmeiser

  Twitter (United States)

  24 shared

• Robin M. Ikeda

  Auerbach Associates (United States)

  16 shared

• Rima Khabbaz

  National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases

  16 shared

• Judith A. Monroe

  CDC Foundation

  16 shared

• Jason N. Houle

  Dartmouth College

  11 shared

• Alexandra Brown

  Federal Reserve Board of Governors

  9 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Human Ecology

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  1990

• M.S., Human Ecology

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  1985

• B.S., Human Ecology

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  1983

Similar researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Soyeon Shimh-44
• Yiwei Zhangh-36
• Nancy Wongh-23