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Dr Shyamal Chowdhury

Summary

Research projects that I am currently working on include: evaluating the effect of migration on household welfare in Bangladesh; eliciting consumer preferences for nutrient-dense bio-fortified foods in Ghana and Uganda; understanding the impact of decentralization on infrastructure planning and provision in Indonesia; and understanding the impact of competition between formal and informal lenders in microcredit market in Bangladesh.

Research interests

My research program has been and continues to be shaped by the broad goal of trying to understand how development interventions influence households, particularly poor households under market imperfections. Empirical evaluation of impacts of interventions particularly that are related to technologies and infrastructures are important to me.

I use both experimental and quasi-experimental methods in evaluation as well as other quantitative methods. For interventions that cannot be extended to the desired segments of a population through traditional market mechanisms, I examine alternative incentive schemes that are attainable in a second-best world.

Background

Shyamal Chowdhury graduated from Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh with a BSc (Hons.) in Economics, an MA in Economics from the University of Kiel, Germany, and a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Bonn University, Germany. Prior to joining the University of Sydney, he worked for the International Food Policy Research Institute (from 2003-2006), and the World Bank (2006-2007) in Washington DC, USA.

Recent publications

  • “Are Schooling and Roads Complementary? Evidence from Income Dynamics in Rural Indonesia.” (with F. Yamauchi, M. Muto, R. Dewina, and S. Sumaryanto), World Development, 39 (12): 2232-2244 2011.
  • “Are Consumers in Developing Countries Willing to Pay More for Micronutrient-Dense Biofortified Foods? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Uganda.” (with J.V. Meenaskshi, Keith I. Tomlins, and Constance Owori), American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 93(1): 83-97, 2011.
  • Impact of Infrastructure on Paid Work Opportunities and Unpaid Work Burdens on Rural Women in Bangladesh.” Journal of International Development, 22, 997–1017, 2010.
  • Submitted manuscripts/work in progress:
    Gradual Repayment and sequential lending in micro-finance (with Prabal Roy Chowdhury and Kunal Sengupta).
  • "Migrating Away from a Seasonal Famine: A Randomized Intervention in Bangladesh," (with A. M. Mobarak & G. Bryan, Human Development Research Papers (HDRP) HDRP-2009-41. 2009. http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2009/papers/HDRP_2009_41.pdf
  • "Governance Decentralization and Local Infrastructure Provision in Indonesia," (with Futoshi Yamauchi, and Reno Dewina). IFPRI discussion papers 902, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). 2009 http://www.ifpri.org/publication/governance-decentralization-and-local-infrastructure-provision-indonesia

Contact

Email:
Website: www.sydney.edu.au/agriculture/staff/chowdhury/index.shtml