Michael LaForest-Tucker is an assistant professor of economics & public policy at George Washington University's Trachtenberg School. His research leverages experimental, quasi-experimental, and structural modeling methods, with a particular focus on criminal justice, education, and military personnel policy.

Michael was previously an Assistant Professor of Economics at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) and Analyst at USAFA’s Office of Labor and Economic Analysis. Prior to that he worked as a postdoctoral scholar with Penn State’s Criminal Justice Research Center and the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, and as a research director with the University of Chicago's Crime & Education Lab in New York City. He received a PhD in economics from the University of Virginia and a BS in economics & political science from the University of Michigan. During AY25-26 he will be visiting the University of Copenhagen's Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality.