Asim Ijaz Khwaja ( ur, ) is a Pakistani-American economist who serves as Sumitomo-FASID Professor of

International Finance International finance (also referred to as international monetary economics or international macroeconomics) is the branch of financial economics broadly concerned with monetary and macroeconomic interrelations between two or more countries. Inter ...

and

Development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

Harvard Kennedy School The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

, and director of Center for International Development (CID) at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

since July 1, 2019. He is co-founder of the Center for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP) and also serves as co-Director of

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Evidence for Policy Design. He is the first Pakistani hired by

as professor.

Early life and education

Asim was born to a Pakistani family in London, United Kingdom. He was raised in UK before moving to

Kano Kano may refer to: Places *Kano State, a state in Northern Nigeria * Kano (city), a city in Nigeria, and the capital of Kano State **Kingdom of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between the 10th and 14th centuries **Sultanate of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

where he lived for eight years. He also lived in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

for eight years and attended

Aitchison College Aitchison College ( ur, ایچیسن کالج) is an independent, semi-private boys school for boarding and day students from grade 1–13 in Lahore, Pakistan. It has a tradition of providing an education that uses academics, sports, and co-curri ...

. He moved to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, United States for higher education in 1991. Asim got a bachelor's degree in economics and mathematics with computer science from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

in 1995. He received his PhD in economics from

in 2001.

Professional life

Asim joined

as assistant professor in June 2001. He also served as visiting faculty member at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

's Economic Growth Center from January 2005 to June 2005. In October of 2005, Asim released

RISE-PAK Relief and Information Systems for Earthquakes Pakistan (abbreviated as RISE-PAK) was an information-sharing web portal created by Pakistani-American economist Asim Ijaz Khwaja along with experts from World Bank, Pomona College, National Databas ...

, a searchable database for earthquake relief in Pakistan. He was promoted to associate professor at

in June 2006 and professor in January 2010. He has also served as visiting faculty member at Walter A. Haas School of Business at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. His areas of interest include

development economics Development economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural ...

, corporate finance, education,

political economy Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...

, institutions, mechanism design/contract theory and industrial organization.

Personal life

Asim is a citizen of Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States. He is married to Sehr Jalal and has three children. He enjoys playing

Squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

and interested in chaos and complexity theory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khwaja, Asim Ijaz Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Harvard University alumni Pakistani emigrants to the United States People with acquired American citizenship American academics of Pakistani descent Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British economists British people of Pakistani descent