PhD in Economics (Cambridge University),
Former Professor of Economics, University of Dhaka,
Former member of the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh and
Chairman, Economic Research Group (ERG)
Profile:Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud
Dr. Wahiduddin Mahmud obtained his PhD in economics from Cambridge University, and was a Professor of Economics at the University of Dhaka. He was the Former member of the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh in charge of the Ministry of Finance and Planning. He is currently a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (UN-CDP), Chairman of the South Asian Network of Economic Research Institutes (SANEI), and Senior Advisor to International Growth Centre’s research programme in Bangladesh. He has held teaching and research appointments at Cambridge, IDS at Sussex, World Bank, UNDP, and ILO. He had worked with International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) as a senior consultant. Dr. Mahmud’s involvement in national policymaking has been quite extensive. Together with Nobel peace prize winner Muhammad Yunus, he co-founded, and was chairman (2003-13) of Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), which is an apex institution for funding the microfinance programmes of MFI/NGOs in Bangladesh. He is also the founder-chairman of the Institute of Microfinance (InM), a sister organization of PKSF. He has published on a wide range of topics in economic development and economic policy perspective.
Professor of Economics, University of Dhaka;
Director, Bureau of Economic Research;
Chair, Economics Department, University of Dhaka;
Director, Centre for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences;
Research Advisor, United Nations Support Facility for Indonesian Recovery (UNSFIR);
Advisor (Minister) of Finance and Planning, Caretaker Government of Bangladesh, 1996;
Visiting Fellow, Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex;
Senior Research Consultant, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI);
Visiting Research Fellow, World Bank, Washington, DC;
Consultant and head of the macro-modelling group, Planning Commission, Government of Bangladesh;
Tutor at King’s, Trinity and Pembroke College,University of Cambridge;
Handbook on the South Asian Economies (co-editor), Edward Elgar Publishers (UK and USA)
Policy reforms, growth and governance: the political economy of Bangladesh’s development surprise’, Working Paper, Growth Commission (Washington, DC) (see www.growthcommission.org/workshopsdocs/Bangladesh%20drft.pdf)
“Bangladesh: development outcomes and challenges in the context of globalization”, in Ernesto Zedillo (ed.) The Future of Globalization: Explorations in Light of Recent Turbulence, Routledge (London and New York), 2007.
Accelerating Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh (co-editor), University Press Limited (Dhaka) for the World Bank, 2006.
“Monitoring Donor Support to Bangladesh’s Poverty Reduction Strategy: Rethinking the Rules of Engagement”, Paper prepared for the Commonwealth Finance Ministers’ Meeting, Colombo, September 10-12, 2006; published as ERG Occasional Paper, Economic Research Group (Dhaka) and Commonwealth Secretariat (London), 2006.
“Macroeconomic management: from stabilization to growth?”, Economic and Political Weekly (Mumbai), September 4, 2004.
Bangladesh: Economic Development and Social Transformation (co-compiler), special issue of Economic and Political Weekly (Mumbai), September 4, 2004.
Human Development in Indonesia: The Economic Arithmetic of Democracy, National Human Development Report 2004, UNDP and Government of Indonesia (research advisor and member of the drafting team).
The Macroeconomics of Poverty Reduction: The Case of Bangladesh, Dhaka and Kathmandu: UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Program of Macroeconomics of Poverty Reduction, 2003.
“National budgets, social spending and public choice”, Working Paper No. 162, IDS at the University of Sussex, August 2002.
Adjustment and Beyond: the Reform Experience in South Asia (editor), Palgrave-Macmillan and St Martin’s Press (UK and New York) in association with the International Economics Association, 2001.
Popular Economics: Unpopular Essays, University Press Limited (Dhaka), 2002.
“Agricultural growth through crop diversification in Bangladesh”, Chapter 12 in R. Ahmed and S. Haggblade (eds.), Out of the Shadow of Famine: Evolving Food Markets and Food Policy in Bangladesh, The Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore and London), 2000.
Chapter 2 on Bangladesh, in S. Forman and R. Ghosh, Promoting Reproductive Health: Investing in Health for Development, Lynne Rienner Publishers (Boulder and London) for Center for International Cooperation at New York University, 2000.
“Preface”, in J. Stiglitz, State versus Market: Have Asian Currency Crises Affected the Reform Debate?, University Press Limited (Dhaka), 1999.
Chapter on “South Asia”, in Teaching Economics in Developing and other Countries, special issue of Journal of Development Planning, No.24 (UN, New York), 1994.
Bangladesh: the Non-Farm Sector in a Diversifying Rural Economy (member of the study team), Report No. 16740-BD, World Bank (Washington, DC), 1997.
“Agricultural development strategy in Bangladesh: critical issues and policy perspectives”, Chapter 1 in R. Faruquee, Bangladesh Agriculture in the 21st Century, University Press Limited (Dhaka) for The World Bank, 1998.
Agricultural Growth with Diversification: Prospects and Issues (co-author), Report No. 14315-BD, World Bank (Washington, DC), 1995.
“Urban poverty in Bangladesh: trends, determinants and policy issues” (co-author), Asian Development Review, Vol.12, No.1, 1994.
“Women and structural adjustment”, Commonwealth Economic Papers No.22, Commonwealth Secretariat (London), 1991.
The Role of Small and Medium-Scale Manufacturing Industries in Industrial Development (author of Chapter on Bangladesh), Asian Development Bank (Manila), 1990.
“The impact of overseas migration on the Bangladesh economy – a macroeconomic perspective”, in R. Amjad (ed.), To the Gulf and Back, UNDP and ILO (New Delhi), 1989.
“Institutional factors and technological innovations”, Chapter 5 in V. Ruttan and I. Ahmed (eds.), Generation and Diffusion of Agricultural Innovations, Gower (England & USA), 1988.
Evaluating Rice Market Intervention Policies – Some Asian Experience (author of Chapter IV), Asian Development Bank (Manila), 1988.
“Age-sex aspects of the food and nutrition problem in rural Bangladesh”, ILO World Employment Programme Research Working Paper (Geneva), 1985.
Planning, Monitoring and Implementation of an Employment Strategy for Bangladesh, ILO Asian Employment Programme (New Delhi), 1987.
“Export of manpower from Bangladesh to the Middle East”, (co-author), World Bank Staff Working Paper No.454 (Washington, DC), 1981.
Development Issues in an Agrarian Economy – Bangladesh (ed.), Centre for Administrative Studies at University of Dhaka, 1981.
Macro-Model for the Second Five Year Plan – Some Preliminary Projections (principal author), Planning Commission, Government of Bangladesh, 1980.
“In quest of democracy and development”, in A. Bayes (ed.), Bangladesh at 25, University Press Limited (Dhaka), 1998.
Author of the chapter on Macroeconomic Developments in the annual Independent Review of Bangladesh’s Development (1995, ’96 and ’97) prepared by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (Dhaka) and published by University Press Limited (Dhaka).
Several papers in The Bangladesh Development Studies, journal of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (Dhaka).
Chairman, Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF);
Director, Board of Directors, Bangladesh Bank (central bank of Bangladesh);
Chairman, Independent Committee for Monitoring PRSP and MDG (a government-appointed body);
Research Advisor, South Asia Network of Economic Research Institutes (SANEI);
Member of the Council of Advisors for the Chief Economist (South Asia Region), World Bank;
Member, International Board of Advisory Editors, Development and Change;
Member, Editorial Advisory Group, Indian Journal of Human Development;
Chairman, Advisory Committee for Revision of National Income Accounts;
Chairman, Bank Reform Committee;
President, Bangladesh Economic Association;
Chairman of the Panel of Economists for the Fifth Five-Year Plan (1998-2002) of Bangladesh;
Chairman, Standard Chartered Bank- Financial Express Corporate Social Responsibility Award Trust;
Member of the Governing Body, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council;
Member, Agricultural Reforms Commission;
Member of the Trustee Board of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS);
Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud
Chairman
Economic Research Group (ERG).
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