Forhad Shilpi

Forhad Shilpi holds a joint appointment as a Senior Economist in the Development Economics Research Group and South Asia Sustainable Development unit.

A major part of her research examines the impact of infrastructure on the spatial pattern of specialization and the level of commercialization in a rural economy. She also wrote couple of papers analyzing isolation’s impact on regional inequality and subjective well-being. In a recently published paper, she evaluated the impact of India’s economic liberalization on price responsiveness of private investment. She worked extensively on agricultural marketing, non-farm development and rural investment climate issues. Some of her recent papers were published in leading economics journals (Economic Journal, Journal of Development Economics, Canadian Journal of Economics). Her ongoing research projects attempt to uncover the implications of infrastructure and amenities for the location choice of the migrants and private firms.

The main areas of focus of her operational works have been the development of the non-farm sector, rural investment climate surveys and assessments, agricultural marketing reforms, implications of trade policy for agricultural and non-farm sectors; development, and rural development strategy. She also participated as a core team member in a number of poverty assessments and contributed to Development Policy Reviews and trade competitiveness diagnostics.

She holds a Ph. D degree in economics from the Johns Hopkins University. She taught econometrics and macroeconomics at the Johns Hopkins University. Prior to joining the World Bank, she worked as a research associate at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies.