Michael Leeds is Professor of Economics and Director of Graduate Studies in Economics at Temple University. His research has appeared in The Journal of Urban Economics, Economic Inquiry, Social Science Quarterly, and The Journal of Sports Economics. He is coauthor of The Economics of Sports, a prominent textbook in the field, and coeditor of the Handbook on the Economics of Women in Sports, published in 2013 by Edward Elgar. His current research focuses on gender differences in the response to economic contests. From 2007 to 2009, he was an Assistant Dean at Temple University Japan.

He joined IZA as a Research Fellow in June 2013.