Publications

Economic Geography and Structural Transformation

• Matching frictions and distorted beliefs: Evidence from a job fair experiment, (with Girum Abebe, Stefano A. Caria, Marcel Fafchamps, Paolo Falco, Simon Franklin, Simon Quinn), Economic Journal, April 2025.

• Temporary Trade Shocks and Regional Development: Evidence from the Closure of Abidjan Port. (with M. Shahe Emran, Brian Blankespoor, and Harold Coulombe) Journal of Economic Geography 24, no. 2 (2024): 333-352. 

• Bridge to Big-push or Backwash? Market Integration, Reallocation and Productivity Effects of Jamuna Bridge in Bangladesh. (with Brian Blankespoor, M. Shahe Emran, and Lu Xu), Journal of Economic Geography 22, no. 4 (July 2022): 853–871. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbab024.

• Rural-urban migration in developing countries: Lessons from the literature. (with Harris Selod), Regional Science and Urban Economics 91 (2021): 103713. 

• Gold Mining and Proto-Urbanization: Recent Evidence from Ghana, (with Marcel Fafchamps and Michael Koelle), Journal of Economic Geography, vol. 17(5), pages 975-1008, 2017.

• Determinants of the Choice of Migration Destination, with Marcel Fafchamps, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 2013, 75, (3), 388-409.

• Mobility Costs and Regional Inequality: Evidence from Bangladesh, Journal of Globalization and Development, 2011, 2, (1), 1-32. 

• Isolation and Subjective Welfare: Evidence from South Asia, with Marcel Fafchamps, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2009, 57, (4), 641-683.

• Urban Proximity, Agricultural Potential and Rural Non-farm Employment: Evidence from Bangladesh, with Uwe Deichmann and Renos Vakis, World Development, 2009, 37, (3), 645-660.

• Subjective welfare, isolation, and relative consumption, with Marcel Fafchamps, Journal of Development Economics, 2008, 86, (1), 43-60

• Cities and Specialisation: Evidence from South Asia, with Marcel Fafchamps, Economic Journal, 2005, 115, (503), 477-504.

• The spatial division of labour in Nepal, with Marcel Fafchamps, The Journal of Development Studies, 2003, 39, (6), 23-66. 

Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility

• Is gender destiny? Gender bias and intergenerational educational mobility in India. (with M. Shahe Emran, Hanchen Jiang), Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 238 (2025).

• Making the Most of Coresident Data: Credible Evidence on Intergenerational Mobility with Sibling Correlation. (with Md Nazmul Ahsan, M. Shahe Emran, Hanchen Jiang), Journal of Development Economics, 176 (2025).    

• Complementarities and Intergenerational Educational Mobility: Theory and Evidence from Indonesia. (with Md Nazmul Ahsan, and M. Shahe Emran), Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 225 (2024): 170-191.

• Economic Approach to Intergenerational Mobility: Measures, Methods, And Challenges in Developing Countries, (with M. Shahe Emran) in Social Mobility In Developing Countries: Concepts, Methods, And Determinants, edited by Vegard Iversen, Anirudh Krishna, and Kunal Sen, Oxford University Press, 2021.

• Distributional Effects of Corruption When Enforcement is Biased: Theory and Evidence from Bribery in Schools in Bangladesh, (with M. S. Emran and Asadul Islam), Economica, 87(348), October, 2020. 

• When measure matters: co-resident sample selection bias in estimating intergenerational mobility in developing countries, (with M. Shahe Emran and William Greene), Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 53(3), pages 589-607, July, 2018.

• Gender, Geography, and Generations: Intergenerational Education Mobility in Post Reform India, (with M.S. Emran), World Development, Vol 72, pages 362-380, 2015.

• Education, Preferences and Household Welfare, (with Marcel Fafchamps), Economic Development and Cultural Change,” University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(1), pages 73 – 115, 2014.

• Intergenerational Occupational Mobility in Rural Economy: Evidence from Nepal and Vietnam, with M. Shahe Emran, Journal of Human Resources, 2011, 46, (2)

  Agriculture and Agricultural Marketing

• Credit rationing and pass-through in supply chains: theory and evidence from Bangladesh. (with M. Shahe Emran, Dilip Mookherjee, and M. Helal Uddin.), American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 13, no. 3 (2021): 202-236.

• Beyond Dualism: Agricultural Productivity, Small Towns, and Structural Change in Bangladesh, (with Emran, M. Shahe), World Development, Volume 107, July 2018, Pages 264-276.

•  Land Market Restrictions, Women's Labor Force Participation and Wages, (with M. Shahe Emran), Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, vol. 79(5), pages 747-768, October 2017.

• Agricultural productivity, hired labor, wages and poverty: evidence from Bangladesh, (with M. Shahe Emran), World Development, vol. 109(C), pages 470-482, September, 2018.

• The extent of the market and stages of agricultural specialization, with M Shahe Emran, Canadian Journal of Economics, 2012, 45, (3), 1125-1153. 

• Market facilities and agricultural marketing: evidence from Tamil Nadu, India, with Dina Umali-Deininger, Agricultural Economics, 2008, 39, (3), 281-294.

Other Papers

• Microfinance and moneylenders: long-run effects of MFIs on informal credit market in Bangladesh, (with Claudia Berg and M. Shahe Emran), BE Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, 2020. 

• Estimating an Import Demand Function in Developing Countries: A Structural Econometric Approach with Applications to India and Sri Lanka, with M. Shahe Emran, Review of International Economics, 2010, 18, (2), 307-319

• Economic liberalization and price response of aggregate private investment: time series evidence from India, with M. Shahe Emran and Imam M. Alam, Canadian Journal of Economics, 2007, 40, (3), 914-934

• Estimating the level of protection: The implications of seasonal price fluctuations, World Development, 1996, 24, (5), 929-937.

• Foreign exchange rationing and the aggregate import demand function, with M. Shahe Emran, Economics Letters, 1996, 51, (3), 315-322.

Books and Flagship Reports

• Rethinking Resilience: Adapting to a Changing Climate, with Matthew E. Kahn, and Claudia Berg, 2025. Policy Research Report. Washington, DC: World Bank. 

• World Development Report 2024: The Middle-Income Trap. World Bank. Contributed to chapters 5 and 8.

• Vibrant Cities - On the Bedrock of Stability, Prosperity, and Sustainability. with S. Lall, J. Kher Kaw and S. Murray, 2023, Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. 

• From Farm to Firm:Rural-Urban Transition in Developing Countries, with N. Dudwick, K. Hull, R. Katayama and K. Simler, World Bank Publications, The World Bank, 2011.