Mihály Laki graduated from the Karl Marx University of Economics. He received his CSc degree in 1996. From 1982 he was working at the Institute for Economic and Market Research (KOPINT), and from 89 at the Coopertaions Research Institute. He has been a senior research fellow of the Institute of Economics since 1989. His research field covers issues of firm behaviour, privatisation, enterpreneurship and market structures in transitional countries, especially in Hungary. He was a member of the Economics Committee of the Hungaria Academy of Sciences, and is currently a member of the editorial board of several journals. His teaching activity includes various foreign universities (CEU, Justus Liebig Universitat, University of California San Diego).