Mushtaq Husain Khan is a British-Bangladeshi

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and professor of economics at the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

(SOAS),

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. His work focuses on the economics of poor countries; it includes notable contributions to the field of

institutional economics Institutional economics focuses on understanding the role of the Sociocultural evolution, evolutionary process and the role of institutions in shaping Economy, economic Human behavior, behavior. Its original focus lay in Thorstein Veblen's instin ...

and South Asian development. Khan also developed the concept o
political settlement
which is a political economy framework that highlights how the distribution of organizational and political power among different classes or groups influences policies and institutions in different countries.

Education and career

Educated as an

exhibitioner An exhibition is a type of scholarship award or bursary. United Kingdom and Ireland At the universities of Dublin, Oxford, Cambridge and Sheffield, at some public schools, and various other UK educational establishments, an exhibition is a sma ...

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12th ...

, Khan graduated with a first-class BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1981.His curriculum vitae
In 1982, he received his MPhil from

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, where he would complete a Ph.D. in 1989. From 1990 to 1996, Khan was both fellow and lecturer in economics at

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...

, and assistant director of development studies at Cambridge, a prestigious post held by, among others,

John Toye John Toye (c. 1936 – 28 April 1992) was a presenter and newsreader on Scottish Television for over 20 years, and is best known as the former anchor on its flagship news programme ''Scotland Today''. Life and career Toye was born into a musical ...

and

Ha-Joon Chang Ha-Joon Chang (; ; born 7 October 1963) is a South Korean institutional economist, specialising in development economics. Chang is the author of several widely discussed policy books, most notably ''Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strateg ...

. In 1996, Khan took up a post at SOAS, where he was made a professor in 2005. Apart from his academic career, Khan has held appointments as consultant for a vast number of international institutions focussing on poor countries, among others the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

DfID , type = Department , logo = DfID.svg , logo_width = 180px , logo_caption = , picture = File:Admiralty Screen (411824276).jpg , picture_width = 180px , picture_caption = Department for International Development (London office) (far right ...

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

and the

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field office ...

; moreover, he has held positions as visiting professor at

Chulalongkorn Chulalongkorn ( th, จุฬาลงกรณ์, 20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910) was the fifth monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri, titled Rama V. He was known to the Siamese of his time as ''Phra Phuttha Chao Luang'' (พร� ...

and

Dhaka University The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently i ...

. Several of his articles have won prizes, including the ''Hans Singer Prize'' and the ''Frank Cass Prize''. In addition, he is a regular commentator for the BBC's Bengali service broadcasts.

Work

'Good governance' and 'transformation potential'

Khan's research has produced notable contributions to heterodox institutional political economy; in particular, he subjects what he terms the "'' good governance'' consensus" of the Bretton Woods institutions and many non-governmental organisations to a thorough critique. In several publications, he challenges the belief that the elimination of rents,

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

and rent-seeking behaviour as well as democratisation and

decentralisation Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...

represent the ''precondition'' for successful development. According to him, there is no historical evidence for this sequencing; indeed, he claims that all evidence suggests opposite causal direction, so that 'good governance' is the ''outcome'', rather than the cause, for growth. Instead, he emphasizes the importance of ''transformation potential'', that is the capacity of states to transform rent-seeking behaviour into uses which are conducive to growth.Khan, M. H., 2004. "Evaluating the Emerging Palestinian State - 'Good Governance' versus 'Transformation Potential'". In: Khan, Giacaman, and Amundsen. ''State Formation in Palestine - Viability and Governance During a Social Transformation''. London: Routledge. On this account, notable examples include Taiwan and South Korea where states intervened heavily and used patron-client relationships in order to further growth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Mushtaq 1961 births Living people Academics of SOAS University of London Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Bangladeshi economists British economists Bangladeshi emigrants to the United Kingdom