Milan Thomas
Economist, Asian Development Bank
via U. of Cambridge, LSE, Georgetown U.
[ADB] [Drukonomist] [E-mail]
Bhutan
"Employability initiative for college students and jobseekers launched by ADB, MOESD" with Ryotaro Hayashi in Kuensel (08/04/2024).
"Media attrition: How much, who, why, and to what effect?" with Yangchen C. Rinzin in Kuensel (25/11/2023).
"Moving beyond Arts vs. Sciences to employability" with Sonam Lhendup in Kuensel (14/10/2023).
"Bhutan's challenging geography was a boon during COVID-19 school closures" with Ryotaro Hayashi in The Bhutanese (02/09/2023).
ADB Brief: Assessment of Changes in Secondary School Learning Outcomes in Post-COVID-19 Bhutan
Coverage: Bhutan Broadcasting Service interview (01/09/2023), BBS article (01/09/2023), Kuensel article (05/09/2023), Bhutan This Week (07/09/2023)."FAB23 demonstrated how investing in innovation is critical for Bhutan’s economic aspirations"
with Namgyal Tsheden Gyaltshen in Kuensel (29/07/2023).
Coverage: Bhutan Broadcasting Service interview (28/07/2023), BBS article (27/07/2023),
Journal of Bhutan Studies (10/09/2023)."On the 15th anniversary of the Constitution, what government actions are citizens calling for?"
with Yangchen C. Rinzin in Kuensel (15/07/2023)."Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Bhutan achieved progress in rural poverty reduction"
in Kuensel (24/06/2023)."Strategizing Economic Recovery Using a New Computable General Equilibrium Model for Bhutan"
with Tshering Lhamo in Development Asia (2023)."Happiness is a Place... and a Multi-dimensional Poverty Index"
with Yangchen C. Rinzin in Asian Development Blog (2023)."Bhutan" with Sonam Lhendup in Asian Development Outlook (2023).
Development Innovations
"Innovation and Economic Value: A Prospective Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Fab Bhutan Challenge"
in Journal of Bhutan Studies (2023). Presented at FAB23 conference."Gig Economy Employment during the Pandemic: An Analysis of GrabFood Driver Experiences in the Philippines"
with Takashi Yamano, Angelica Maddawin, and Lilibeth Poot in ADB Brief No. 251 (2023).
Coverage: BusinessMirror (10/08/2023).“Climbing the sanitation ladder: latrine promotion and household decision-making in Viet Nam"
with Per Ljung in Journal of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene for Development (2021).
Blog post: "Women are Key to Improving Rural Sanitation""Is Development Innovation a Good Investment? Evidence from USAID's early portfolio"
with Michael Kremer, Olga Rostapshova, and Sasha Gallant. Presented at several conferences and seminars including at Harvard University, London School of Economics, Stanford University, and USAID (2020).“Group-based nudges and loan repayment: Evidence from farmers in Kenya"
with Tomoko Harigaya, Michael Kremer, and Giulia Zane. Presented at Georgetown Center for Economic Research (2019).
Education
"Falling Further Behind: The cost of COVID-19 school closures by gender and wealth"
with Rhea Molato Gayares in Asian Development Outlook (2022).
Blog post: "Inadequate learning, loss of earnings: The staggering cost of school closures in Asia"
with Abdul Abiad, Elisabetta Gentile, and Rhea Molato Gayares in Asian Development Blog (2021)."Getting to Education Outcomes: Reviewing Evidence from Health and Education Interventions"
with Donald Bundy et al. in Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries (World Bank, 2018).“Human capital and development” in Routledge Handbook of International Education and Development (Routledge, 2015).
“Financing needs for out-of-school children”
with Nicholas Burnett in Fixing the Broken Promise of Education For All: Findings from the Global Initiative on Out of School Children (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2015). Presented at Comparative International Education Society (2016).
Health
"Mixed effects modelling of excess mortality and COVID-19 lockdowns in Thailand "
with Nishtha Kochhar, Elaine S. Tan, et al. in Scientific Reports (2024)."COVID-19 lockdown policy and heterogenous responses of urban mobility: Evidence from the Philippines"
with Yi Jiang and Jade Laranjo in PLOS ONE (2022)."The COVID-19 crisis will exacerbate maternal and child undernutrition and child mortality in low- and middle-income countries"
with Saskia Osendarp et al. in Nature Food (2021).“Sanitation, Financial Incentives and Health Spillovers: A Cluster Randomised Trial”
with Lisa Cameron and Paulo Santos in Journal of Health Economics (2021). Australian Health Economics Society 2021 Best Paper Prize.
Blog post: "It takes a village (to raise a child's height)"“Reorienting Health Aid to Meet Post-2015 Global Health Challenges”
with Lawrence Summers et al. in Oxford Review of Economic Policy (2016).“Global collective action in health: The WDR+20 landscape of core and supportive functions”
with Dean Jamison et al. in The Lancet Commission on Investing in Health (background paper, 2014).
Microeconomics
"Gendered Time Poverty in Three Developing Countries: An Intra-Household Analysis of Children’s Time Use"
with Madhulika Khanna in Journal of International Development (2023).
Blog post: "Child's Play: The Surprising Gender Gap in Children's Leisure Time""Jumping on the bandwagon? Attendance response to recent victories in the NBA"
with Ercio Munoz and Jiadi Chen in Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports (2022).“Momentum effects in repeated competition: Exploiting the fine line between winning and losing”
with Ercio Munoz and Jiadi Chen.
