#  Asim Ijaz Khwaja 

 



   ![Asim Khwaja headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum3221/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2024-11/0730_9476_teuten-X4-1.jpg?itok=DaHGTqAo) 

 

Asim Ijaz Khwaja is the Director of the [Harvard Center for International Development](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid), the Sumitomo-Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development Professor of International Finance and Development at the Harvard Kennedy School, and co-founder of the [Center for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP).](http://cerp.org.pk/)

His areas of interest include economic development, finance, education, political economy, institutions, and contract theory/mechanism design. His research combines extensive fieldwork, rigorous empirical analysis, and microeconomic theory to answer questions that are motivated by and engage with policy.

[Read More](/biocv-0)



 

##  Recent Publications 

[Helping Schools Survive: Experimental Evidence on the Impact of Financial and Educational Support to Private Schools](https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w34042/w34042.pdf) (with T. Andrabi, J. Das, and S. Ozyurt) WP 2025.

[Heterogeneity in School Value-Added and the Private Premium](https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20221422) (with T. Andrabi, Tahir, N. Bau, and J. Das), *American Economic Review*, vol. 115, no. 1, January 2025.

[Crowding in Private Quality: The Equilibrium Effects of Public Spending in Education](/sites/g/files/omnuum3221/files/asimkhwaja/files/crowding_in_private_quality_andrabi_bau_das_karachiwalla_khwaja_2023.pdf "crowding_in_private_quality_andrabi_bau_das_karachiwalla_khwaja_2023.pdf") (with T. Andrabi, N. Bau, J. Das, and N. Karachiwalla), *The Quarterly Journal of Economics*, 139 (4): 2525–2577.

[Trust in State and Non-State Actors: Evidence from Dispute Resolution in Pakistan](/file_url/158) (with D. Acemoglu, A. Cheema and J. Robinson), *Journal of Political Economy*, August 2020.

[Making Moves Matter: Experimental Evidence on Incentivizing Bureaucrats through Performance-Based Postings ](/file_url/150)(with A. Khan, LSE, and B. Olken, MIT), *American Economic Review,* Vol. 109, No. 1, January 2019. [Link to Online Appendix.](/file_url/151)

[Upping the Ante: The Equilibrium Effects of Unconditional Grants to Private Schools](/file_url/162) (with T. Andrabi, J. Das, S. Ozyurt, and N. Singh), *American Economic Review, Vol.* 110 (10): 3315-49, 2020.

[Report Cards: The Impact of Providing School and Child Test Scores on Education Markets](https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20140774). (with T. Andrabi, Pomona, and J. Das), *American Economic Review,* Vol. 107, No. 6, June 2017.

[Screening Peers Softly: Inferring the Quality of Small Borrowers](/sites/g/files/omnuum3221/files/asimkhwaja/files/screening_peers_softly_khwaja.pdf "screening_peers_softly_khwaja.pdf"), (with R. Iver, MIT, E. Luttmer, Dartmouth, and K. Shue, Chicago GSB) *Management Science*, Vol. 62(6), June 2016.

[Tax Farming Redux: Experimental Evidence on Performance Pay for Tax Collectors](/sites/g/files/omnuum3221/files/asimkhwaja/files/tax_farming_redux-_experimental_evidence_on_performance_pay_for_tax_collectors.pdf "tax_farming_redux-_experimental_evidence_on_performance_pay_for_tax_collectors.pdf") (with A. Khan, LSE, and B. Olken, MIT), *Quarterly Journal of Economics*, Vol. 131, No. 1, February 2016.



 

##  Latest Media 

[These Three Barriers Make it Hard for Policymakers to use Evidence that Development Researchers Produce](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/08/13/these-3-barriers-make-it-hard-for-policymakers-to-use-the-evidence-that-development-researchers-produce/?utm_term=.7016123899a7) August 13, 2017

 The Washington Post

 [EPoD's Data-Driven Research on Education in Pakistan](http://americanpakistan.org/epods-data-driven-research-on-education-in-pakistan/)

 August 4, 2017

 American Pakistan Foundation

 [Better information to Improve Service Delivery: New Evidence](http://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/better-information-improve-service-delivery-new-evidence)

 August 3, 2017

 The World Bank: Let's Talk Development

 [An A+ Experiment: How report cards transformed Pakistan's educational market](https://www.aeaweb.org/research/report-cards-pakistan-education)

 July 12, 2017

 American Economic Association

 [Religion and Economic Outcomes](http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/mysay-religion-and-economic-outcomes)

 June 9, 2017

 The Edge Malaysia

 [Tax Collection and Civil Society](http://harvardmagazine.com/2017/01/tax-collection-and-civil-society)

 December 7, 2016

 Harvard Magazine

 [How Personality Testing could Help Financial Inclusion](http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21707978-how-personality-testing-could-help-financial-inclusion-tests-character)

 October 1, 2016

 The Economist