Shanir Adda with Akib Khan

Shanir Adda with Akib Khan
3:30 – 5:00 pm, Saturday, 01 March, 2014
Akib Khan, Research Associate, ERG shared his recent research works at ERG Seminar Room,1st Floor, House 342, Road 25, New DOHS, Mohakhali.

Brief on Akib’s presentation:

Title of the Paper: Assessing Spatial Accessibility of Microfinance in Northern Bangladesh: A GIS Analysis

Abstract: This paper attempts to understand and operationalize the notion of spatial accessibility (SA) in the context of microfinance in the two districts of Bangladesh. Using GIS data from northern Bangladesh, we have generated Kernel-smoothed map and found remarkable variation in SA. Results suggest that, areas isolated from physical infrastructure, administrative establishments and prone to ecological shocks, exhibit lower degree of SA. Moreover, SA is found to have a significant positive impact on both the incidence and extent of microfinance participation: one standard deviation higher SA is associated with a rise in participation probability and average number of micro-loans by, at least, 3.5 percentage points and 16 percent, respectively.

Personal Profile: Akib Khan is currently a Research Associate at ERG. Before joining here, he earned his BSS (Honors) and MSS in Economics from the University of Dhaka. His areas of research interest include Applied Microeconomics, Microeconometrics and Development Economics.