We are pleased to introduce Mushfiq Mobarak, Assistant Professor of Economics, to SOM and the PSE newsletter community. Prof. Mobarak was drawn to Yale because of the impressive tradition of development economics scholarship here. He is excited by SOM’s level of social responsibility, which is a good match with his own values.

Prior to Yale, Prof. Mobarak taught at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and before that worked at the IMF and the World Bank. Prof. Mobarak is currently undertaking a number of research projects centered on topics relevant to the lives of the poor in the developing world. One of Prof. Mobarak’s research interests is marital behaviors in developing countries. He is exploring why countries such as Pakistan have a very high rate of marriage between relatives. He feels that studying and understanding the factors that lead to marriage between relatives will enable the creation of appropriate policies to combat the risks associated with this behavior.

In his home country of Bangladesh, Prof. Mobarak works closely with a local non-profit, BRAC, to look at what affects people’s adoption of new technologies such as cook stoves. His research aims to parse out the factors that may increase or limit adoption: price, information levels, gender dynamics, tradition, etc. Another research project looks at migration in northwest Bangladesh where every year in the pre-harvest period there are price shocks: prices increase and labor demand decreases. Surprisingly, this does not cause migration to areas with higher wages. Prof. Mobarak’s study aims to discover the impediments to migration and how they can be attenuated. Prof. Mobarak is excited to continue his research on these topics here at Yale and hopes to be able to take students to Bangladesh where he does his research.

This semester, Prof. Mobarak is teaching an elective course at SOM entitled “Doing Business in the Developing World.” In addition, he helps to organize the Development Workshop, which is a forum at Yale for graduate students, faculty and outside speakers with research-in-progress on the economics of development. He is also leading the international experience trip to South Africa and Namibia with Professor Victor Vroom.

Click here to learn more about Prof. Mobarak’s research interests and teaching.