Publications
Business Training and Mentoring : Experimental Evidence from Women-Owned Microenterprises in Ethiopia with Markus Goldstein and Gautam Bastian. Economic Development and Cultural Change (University of Chicago Press), October 2022 (vol. 71, no. 1)
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper (WPS9552)
Household Shocks and Consumption Smoothing – Evidence from Northern Bangladesh with Atonu Rabbani. Journal of Developing Areas (Tennessee State University Press), Accepted
Revise and Resubmit
Social and Financial Incentives for Overcoming a Collective Action Problem with Raymond Guiteras [North Carolina State University], James Levinsohn [Yale University] and A. Mushfiq Mobarak [Yale University] (Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Development Economics)
Yale University Economic Growth Center Discussion Paper 1088 (ungated)
Private transfers, public transfers, and food insecurity during the time of COVID-19: Evidence from Bangladesh with John Hoddinott [Cornell University], Dan Gilligan [IFPRI], Shalini Roy [IFPRI] and Akhter Ahmed [IFPRI] (Revise and Resubmit, Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy)
Working Papers
Did prior receipt of nutrition-sensitive social protection build resilience to COVID-19 in Bangladesh? with John Hoddinott [Cornell University], Shalini Roy [IFPRI] and Akhter Ahmed [IFPRI]
Female Empowerment and the Intrinsic Demand for Agency: Experimental Evidence from Northern Nigeria with Marcel Fafchamps [Stanford University], Markus Goldstein [World Bank], Kenneth Leonard [University of Maryland] and Sreelakshmi Papineni [World Bank]
An Evaluation of the Impact of Feed the Future in Bangladesh with A. Ahmed, D. O. Gilligan, G. Thai.
Women, Schooling and Marriage in Rural Philippines with Sanjaya De Silva [Bard College] (Permanent Working Paper)
Levy Economics Institute Working Paper, No. 701
Reports
Ahmed, Akhter; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Gilligan, Dan; Hoddinott, John; Roy, Shalini. 2021. “Changes in food insecurity in rural Bangladesh during COVID-19” Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
Coverage
The Daily Star, December 27, 2021 (front page)
Dhaka Tribune, December 27, 2021 (front page/headline)
Financial Express, December 27, 2021
Ahmed, Akhter; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Hoddinott, John (and other co-authors). 2021. “Signs of recovery: Patterns of livelihoods and food security before and during COVID-19 in rural Bangladesh.” Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
Coverage
The Financial Express, April 10, 2021: Govt aid offsets Covid food insecurity: Study
The Dhaka Tribune, April 10, 2021: Bangladesh outshines high-income countries in inclusive recovery from Covid-19 economic fallout
The Dhaka Tribune, April 11, 2021: On the road to inclusive recovery
Bakhtiar, Mehrab; Meki, Muhammad; Quinn, Simon and Shonchoy, Abu. 2021. “Skin in the Game: Microequity and Mentorship for Online Freelancing-based Microentrepreneurs in Bangladesh.” PEDL ERG Policy Note 5246
Coverage:
The Dhaka Tribune, April 26, 2021: Online freelancing in Bangladesh: Constraints there, potentials overriding
Ahmed, Akhter and Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab. 2020. “Boro Rice Procurement in Bangladesh: Implications for Policy.” Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
Coverage:
The Financial Express, May 8, 2020: Policy that fattens up rice millers
The Dhaka Tribune, May 11, 2020: Buy paddy from farmers, not rice from millers
Prothom Alo (largest circulated newspaper in Bangladesh), May 6, 2020: সরকারি সংগ্রহে লাভ হয় চালকলমালিকদের
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). 2020. “The Urban Socioeconomic Assessment Survey (2019) To Assess The Food Security And Socioeconomic Characteristics To Develop Urban Targeting Criteria For Social Security Programs In Bangladesh .” [one of the two main contributing authors]
Coverage:
The Daily Star (largest circulated English newspaper in Bangladesh), December 7, 2020: Time to check ‘urbanisation of poverty’
The Daily Star, December 21, 2020: Food security still not for all
Prothom Alo (largest circulated newspaper in Bangladesh), April 13, 2021: Lowest savings in the two big cities
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2020. “Second Rapid Assessment of Food and Nutrition Security in the Context of COVID-19 in Bangladesh.” [contributing author]
Coverage:
post on reliefweb, October 16, 2020
Research In Progress:
“Skin in the Game: Micro-equity and Mentorship for Online Freelancing based Micro-entrepreneurs in Bangladesh” with Simon Quinn [University of Oxford], Muhammad Meki [University of Oxford] and Abu S. Shonchoy [Florida Intn’l University]
Received Exploratory Research Grant from DFID Private Enterprise Development in Low Income Countries (PEDL)
Project Description on PEDL website
New draft coming in June, 2021!
Mehrab Bakhtiar 