Biography
Michael Tyrala is an interdisciplinary social scientist currently serving as Lecturer at the Division of Public Policy of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His research interests lie at the intersection between historical macrosociology, global political economy, international relations, development studies, and social psychology, with a geographical specialization in South, Southeast, and Northeast Asia, the US, and the EU along with its non‑member near abroad. His primary focus is on the historical and contemporary trajectories of the global offshore economy, on the social forces that struggle against it and shape global tax governance, and on the evolving impacts of these struggles on the structural dynamics that constitute late capitalism.
His professional experience spans work in the NGO sector, in international organizations and bodies such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) of the European Union (EU), and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as well as in dedicated research institutes and academic departments such as the Institute for Emerging Market Studies of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and the Department of Public and International Affairs of the City University of Hong Kong.
He is co-author of “The Uneven Offshore World: Mauritius, India, and Africa in the Global Economy”, published with Routledge, but his work also appears in journals such as Globalizations, Nature Communications, PNAS Nexus, and Scientific Data, and soon also in an edited volume on the Covid-19 pandemic forthcoming with Oxford University Press.
HIGHLIGHTED PUBLICATIONS
Tyrala, Michael. (2023, forthcoming) “World-Systems Analysis and the COVID-19 Pandemic: How the Structural Dynamics of the Capitalist World‑Economy Exacerbate Societal Vulnerability and Undermine Collective Responses to External Shocks”. In: Miller, Monica K. (Ed.). The Social Science of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Call to Action for Researchers. Oxford University Press.
Azevedo, Flavio; Pavlović, Tomislav; Rêgo, Gabriel G.; ... Tyrala, Michael; ... & Sampaio, Waldir M. (2023). “Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 Across 69 Countries”. Scientific Data, 10(272). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-023-02080-8
Pavlović, Tomislav; Azevedo, Flavio; De, Koustav; ... Tyrala, Michael; ... & Van Bavel, Jay Joseph. (2022). “Predicting Attitudinal and Behavioral Responses to COVID-19 Pandemic Using Machine Learning”. PNAS Nexus, 1(3). https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/1/3/pgac093/6631580
Robertson, Justin & Tyrala, Michael. (2022). “The Uneven Offshore World: Mauritius, India, and Africa in the Global Economy”. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/The-Uneven-Offshore-World-Mauritius-India-and-Africa-in-the-Global-Economy/Robertson-Tyrala/p/book/9780367751128
Van Bavel, Jay Joseph; Cichocka, Aleksandra; Capraro, Valerio; ... Tyrala, Michael; ... & Boggio, Paulo S. (2022). “National Identity Predicts Public Health Support During a Global Pandemic”. Nature Communications, 13(517). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27668-9
Tyrala, Michael. (2021). “On Heeding the Lessons of the Past and Adapting Them to the Present: A Strategy for an Effective Fifth International”. In: Gills, Barry K., & Chase-Dunn, Christopher. (Eds.). Unity on the Global Left: Critical Reflections on Samir Amin’s Call for a New International. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Unity-on-the-Global-Left-Critical-Reflections-on-Samir-Amins-Call-for/Gills-Chase-Dunn/p/book/9780367552220
Low, Donald & Tyrala, Michael. (2020, July 31). “The Coronavirus Crisis is an Opportunity to Reform the Global Economic System”. HKUST IEMS Thought Leadership Brief No. 40. https://iems.ust.hk/publications/thought-leadership-briefs/low-tyrala-coronavirus-reform-globalization-tlb40
Tyrala, Michael. (2020, July 1). “The Belt and Road Initiative and the Ticking Time Bomb of Offshore Tax Evasion and Avoidance”. HKUST IEMS Thought Leadership Brief No. 39. https://iems.ust.hk/publications/thought-leadership-briefs/tyrala-belt-road-initiative-ticking-time-bomb-tax-evasion-avoidance-tlb39
Tyrala, Michael. (2019). “On Heeding the Lessons of the Past and Adapting Them to the Present: A Strategy for an Effective Fifth International”. Globalizations, 16(7): 1092-1101. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14747731.2019.1654708
Tyrala, Michael (under supervision by Pierre Habbard). (2016, July 25). “The Case for Making Country-by-Country Reporting Public”. Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD. https://tuac.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/1606t_beps_cbc-rev-1.pdf
Tyrala, Michael (under supervision by Pierre Habbard). (2016, June 30). “The G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Package – Assessment by the TUAC Secretariat”. Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD. https://tuac.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/1606t-beps_assess-1.pdf
Tyrala, Michael. (2015, March 13). “Europe Adjusting the Noose Around Its Neck”. openDemocracy. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/europe-adjusting-noose-around-its-neck
