Videos

The Centre for Research in Economics and Business (CREB) at the Lahore School of Economics, in collaboration with the International Growth Centre (IGC) and Consortium for Development Policy Research (CDPR) is happy to announce the launch of the Applied Development Economics Seminar Series. Dr Sheheryar Banuri (University of East Anglia) presented results from a new lab experiment on “Borrowing to Keep up: Inequality, Debt and Conspicuous Consumption”, on 21 July 2020. Visit our website, http://creb.org.pk/ade_seminar_series.php, for seminar schedule and updates.

This is a presentation of our paper "Encouraging service delivery for the poor" - Link to working paper: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/126181544125231736/pdf/WPS8666.pdf

Dr Christa Brunnschweiler and Dr Sheheryar Banuri, development economists from the School of Economics, discuss Sheheryar’s new book in which he provides a guide to “choosing wisely” in times when we are outside our comfort zone.

Date: Friday, 9th February. The Consortium for Development Policy Research hosted a Lahore Policy Exchange, titled "Who watches the watchmen? Biases of policy professionals and how to mitigate them". Policy professionals play a central role in translating data and research into policy options and in guiding decision-making. Policy professionals are contractually obligated to engage with data objectively and impartially to achieve optimum policy outcomes. Underlying the evidence revolution in development economics is an assumption that policy makers can put this evidence to use. However, a vast literature from Psychology and Economics demonstrates how difficult it is to disentangle decisions from biases and how decisions do not follow from data in a straight forward manner. Using the context of health and poverty, coupled with data from samples from elite institutions, the following speakers will discuss how biases stem from having a particular worldview, often with ideological origins; how they translate into decisions; how policy makers face structural and analytical constraints in using evidence; and measures policy professionals can use to mitigate the impact of biases and other constraints on decisions. Speakers: 1. Sheheryar Banuri (Development Economist and Lecturer at the University of East Anglia) – presented his research on the issue of biased policy making using examples of the Ebola crisis and support for minimum wage laws. 2. Salman Siddique (Former Bureaucrat) – discussed the implications of such biases for policy making in Pakistan. 3. Asad Liaqat (PhD Candidate at Harvard University) – presented his research on the constraints that civil servants face in using evidence and how they often update their beliefs in unexpected ways when presented with evidence. Ali Cheema (Programme Director Center for Economic Research in Pakistan) provided opening remarks and moderated the discussion.

Do you remember where you were when you heard that the COVID-19 outbreak had become a pandemic? For many of us, that day – March 11 2020 – was the day that everything changed. Suddenly, a rumbling news story about a mystery illness became a matter of concern for every single person on the planet. It’s easy to forget what things were like before the pandemic, now we are so used to wearing masks, washing our hands constantly and keeping metres apart from other human beings wherever we can. But the truth is that coronavirus has changed our lives completely – from the way we work to our social interactions and how we spend our leisure time. To reflect on a year of lockdowns, closed borders and social distancing, join us for an online discussion with three experts in human behaviour about how this virus has changed us, and how long the effects might last. COVID-19 Editor Megan Clement will host the panel at 11am GMT on March 11, with the following guests: - Nilu Ahmed, Lecturer in Social Sciences, University of Bristol - Sheheryar Banuri, Associate Professor in the School of Economics, University of East Anglia - Hei Wan (Karen) Mak, Research Fellow in Behavioural Science and Health, UCL

Sheheryar Banuri is a behavioral economist and an expert on motivation and incentives, behavior, and public policy. He worked as an economist for the World Bank in Washington D.C., and co-authored the “World Bank’s World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behavior”. He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of East Anglia in the UK, and has just published the book “Good Decisions for Strange Situations” on the topic of behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic (https://amzn.to/3ck79pL). You will find his TEDx talk on “Why you shouldn't trust the government” following this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drWHVLOY_tA During this interview, Sheheryar explains the very human forces behind the actions of governments and other public institutions.

Development Economics and Public Sector Economics. While working for the World Bank, Sheheryar has conducted field research and provided policy guidance in Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and the US. His empirical work is also featured in the World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behavior. Development Economics and Public Sector Economics. While working for the World Bank, Sheheryar has conducted field research and provided policy guidance in Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and the US. His empirical work is also featured in the World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behavior. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

This is an interview on the Coronavirus lockdown in the UK. For more about the behavioral science during a pandemic, please see: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/sheheryar-banuri/good-decisions-for-strange-situations/9781529344080/

Sheheryar Banuri on BBC World News discussing the Cobra Effect and COVID payouts. Video courtesy of Karim Dossani.