The study is an attempt to empirically examine the existence of long run equilibrium relationship between the real exchange rate and private manufacturing investment in Bangladesh. Appreciation (depreciation) of the real exchange rate has been found to have a negative (positive) impact on the level of private manufacturing investment both in the long and in the short run. In addition, gross domestic product is also found to have significant effect on investment. The short run dynamic model suggests stability in the equilibrium relationship.

This paper examines the job displacement effects of Canadian-born workers due to immigration in Canada. It considers both substitutability and complementarity relationships between Canadian-born workers and immigrants. These relationships have been examined by estimating a system of wage earnings equations involving Canadian-born, recent immigrant and older immigrant using a Generalized Leontief Production Function (GLPF). The coefficients estimated from GLPF have been used to estimate the Hicksian elasticity of complementarity. The estimated Hicksian elasticities suggest, on the aggregate, that there is no job displacement of native-born workers by immigration. However, there are some job displacement effects by industry.

Estimates from three rounds of BDHS suggest of unchanging fertility level in Bangladesh during the 1990s. This is quite puzzling given the widely acknowledged success of Bangladesh in reducing fertility in early years and it contradicts the steady increase in contraceptive practice during the same period. This paper revisits the numerical estimates upon examining several indirect methods and concludes that fertility decline did not stop during 1990s even though the pace of decline slowed down.

This paper develops an index of trade barrier for 108 countries and makes a comparative analysis of Bangladesh’s trade barrier indices in a global context. Bi-variate as well as multivariate cross-country econometric models have been estimated to explain cross-country variations in trade barrier indices. The results show that cross-country variations in trade barrier indices are much influenced by variations in per capita income, population, the ratio of foreign direct investment to GDP and literacy rate. The findings for a much disaggregated level of commodity categories show that Bangladesh possesses high trade barrier indices.

Increase in female labor supply accompanied by generation of demand for female labor in new forms of production resulted in a feminization of the labor force in Bangladesh. This has affected both gender segregation and market segmentation. Women’s primary responsibility for reproductive work, however, appears to constrain both quality of employment and returns to labor by restricting women’s full participation in market work. Moreover, unchanging gender division of labor in the household and reproductive economies carries negative implications for the well-being of women and of family members dependent upon women’s care-giving labor.