J. Michael Collins

I am the Fetzer Family Chair in Consumer Finance at the School of Human Ecology, an associate professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs, and the faculty director of the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). I also conduct outreach activities with the Wisconsin Cooperative Extension on consumer finance. My research is focused on consumer decision-making, including credit, savings, and investment choices. I also study the role of financial information, coaching, and counseling with a focus on low-income families. I developed a Social Security Administration Financial Literacy Research Consortium center at UW-Madison and have supported a range of multi-disciplinary field studies in consumer finance. I am also an affiliate of the Center for Demography and Ecology (CDE) and the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP).

CDE Research Area Affiliations:

Demography of Inequality; Fertility, Families, and Households

Selected Publications:

Bryan, Brielle, and J. Michael Collins. “Locked out of banking: The limits of financial inclusion for formerly incarcerated individuals.” Social Science Research 122 (2024): 103050.

Berger, Lawrence M., Meta Brown, J. Michael Collins, Rachel E. Dwyer, Jason N. Houle, Stephanie Moulton, Davon Norris, and Alec P. Rhodes. “Inequality in high-cost borrowing and unemployment insurance generosity in US states during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Nature Human Behaviour (2024): 1-13.

Collins, J. Michael, and Amrita Kulka. “Saving by buying ahead: stockpiling in response to lump‐sum payments.” Fiscal Studies (2023).

Collins, J. Michael, Sarah Halpern‐Meekin, Melody Harvey, and Jill Hoiting. ““If I don’t have credit, I don’t have anything”: Perspectives on the credit scoring system among mothers with low incomes.” Journal of Consumer Affairs 57, no. 4 (2023): 1605-1622.