Forhad Shilpi is a Senior Economist in the Development Research Group (Infrastructure Team). Her current research focuses on social mobility in developing countries, microeconomics of climate resilience, infrastructure and urban and regional economics. Her research has been published in leading development and economics journals such as American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Economic Journal, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Human Resources, and Journal of Economic Geography. She is the lead author of the policy research report 2025 “Rethinking Resilience: Adapting to a changing climate”. She also led the social mobility analysis for the World Development Report 2024 “Middle Income Trap”.   She holds a Ph.D. degree in economics from Johns Hopkins University, where she taught several economics courses. Prior to joining the World Bank, she worked as a research associate at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies.

Research Interests: Economic Geography, Intergenerational Mobility, Climate resilience, Infrastructure, Agricultural Market Institutions