Alok Inspired by Asad Islam

  Dr. Asad Islam’s work exploring the economic and social impacts of agricultural innovations in Bangladesh. As a passionate follower of social science that changes lives, I am motivated to amplify his research and its transformative effects for farmers throughout the world. Dr. Islam, along with international collaborators, led one of the world’s largest randomized controlled trials on the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in Bangladesh. Over two years and across hundreds of villages, his research revealed that SRI methods—transplanting young, single seedlings further apart, managing water with alternate wetting and drying, and incorporating more organic inputs—can consistently increase rice yields by up to 50% with almost no extra investment from farmers. Not only did these methods improve productivity, but they also promoted sustainability, reduced chemical exposure, and improved health outcomes for rural communities. The project went beyond academic insight: it required chan...

The Background: Why Food Security Still Matters Though Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in poverty reduction, more than 37 million people remain food insecure. Rural households face seasonal vulnerabilities due to their reliance on agriculture. Traditional banks rarely serve the poorest, and without access to credit, these households struggle to break free from cycles of deprivation. Microcredit programs, such as those popularized by the Grameen Bank, provide loans to landless, asset-poor families—predominantly women. But how effective are these programs for food security, not just poverty reduction? The Research: A Comprehensive Approach Professor Islam and his co-authors use an eight-year panel dataset with over 3,000 households across 91 villages. They analyze not just income and general consumption, but dig deep into three critical dimensions: Daily per capita calorie intake and levels of “food poverty”. Diversity of diets consumed at the household level. Health and nutritio...

  Migration is more than just a change of address—it is about building a new life. For immigrants to Australia, two factors powerfully shape how successful and integrated that new life will be: the age at which they arrive and the level of English language proficiency they achieve. Recent research by Cahit Guven and Asadul Islam sheds new light on these critical influences, offering important insights for individuals, families, and policymakers alike. The Early Bird Advantage: Why Younger Migrants Succeed More The research draws on a rich, nationally representative dataset (the HILDA survey, 2001–2011) to analyze outcomes for those who migrated to Australia as children. The findings are striking: children who arrived before the age of 11 generally attain much higher levels of English proficiency than those who arrived older. Early exposure enables them to acquire near-native fluency, aligning with well-known learning science. As a result, these early arrivals go on to fare much bet...

  The Overlooked Role of Microcredit in Rural Bangladesh Microcredit is often discussed as a tool for entrepreneurship and poverty alleviation, but research on rural Bangladesh shows another equally important function: microcredit as informal insurance against health shocks. The Hidden Dangers of Illness In rural areas, a serious illness is not just a medical crisis—it is an economic one. Families frequently face the risk of selling livestock, pulling children out of school, or falling deeper into poverty. With almost no access to formal insurance, they must find their own ways to cope. Key Findings from the Research Longitudinal household data reveal an important pattern: while families generally avoid sharp declines in food and non-food consumption after a health shock, this stability often comes at the cost of selling livestock—their most important productive asset. For households with access to microcredit, the situation is different. These families are significantly less...

  The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed and deepened mental health challenges across the globe, but its impact has been felt most severely in developing countries. Inspired by the research and policy insights of Dr. Asad Islam, I am compelled to highlight some lessons that the world’s mental health community and policymakers should not ignore. Dr. Islam’s interview with Economics Observatory lays bare the realities faced by millions in countries where health budgets and mental health infrastructure were limited even before the pandemic struck. In places like Bangladesh and many other developing nations, less than 0.5% of healthcare spending is devoted to mental health, leading to profound service gaps and leaving most people without treatment. This problem was only magnified by Covid-19, which triggered job losses, economic insecurity, and greater social isolation—all of which are proven drivers of psychological distress. One of Dr. Islam’s most important findings is the outsized vulne...