Assistant Professor of Economics Tonmoy Islam’s co-authored research is published in the Asian Development Review
T.M. Tonmoy Islam, assistant professor of economics in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, has co-authored the paper, “International Comparisons of Poverty in South Asia,” which is published in the Asian Development Review.
Islam and co-authors David Newhouse and Monica Yanez Pagans, both senior economists at The World Bank, explore and analyze methodologies used to estimate international poverty rates for countries in South Asia.
South Asian countries measure the daily consumption of individuals through surveys and then use that to determine whether a person is in poverty. The paper examined in detail how daily consumption was measured in each of the South Asian countries, and then looked at how standardizing that consumption measure across South Asia would affect the poverty rate. They find that standardizing the way daily consumption is determined in South Asia would reduce the number of people in poverty by almost 18.5 million.
The Asian Development Review (ADR) publishes research on development issues pertaining to the Asia and Pacific region. Published material attempts to bridge the gap between theoretical work and empirical studies to advance the understanding of Asia’s development, including globalization, inequality, structural transformation, and poverty.
Prior to joining Elon in 2014, Islam held roles as a short-term consultant at The World Bank and a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Kentucky. Islam’s research interests are in labor and regional economics as well as economics of poverty and empirical microeconometrics.