Research ALMANAC 2017 Held
The two-day long BIDS Research ALMANAC was held on 6-7 December, 2017 at Lakeshore hotel in Dhaka with the theme of “Bridging the Research-Policy Divide”. The aim of the conference was to provide an opportunity to undergo public scrutiny of BIDS work and to highlight new research ideas and findings. The event allowed broad spectrum of academics, practitioners, experts and civil society members to be engaged with BIDS research. Spread over a total of six technical sessions, this year’s ALMANAC had 21 papers by BIDS researchers. The sessions were titled Agriculture, External Price Shocks & Rural Well-being, Labour Market Issues, Financial Markets & Financial Inclusion, Climate Change , Natural Disaster and Environment, Entitlement, Welfare & Violence and Exports, Firm Performance & Productivity Growth.
Dr. Mashiur Rahman, Economic Affairs Adviser to the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Govt of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, inaugurated the event as the Chief Guest and Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin, former governor, Bangladesh Bank was present as the special guest. Mr. M Syeduzzaman, Former Finance Minister, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was present as the Guest of Honour. Dr. K A S Murshid, Director General of BIDS chaired the inaugural session and made the opening remarks. The concluding session “Bridging the Research-Policy Divide” was chaired by the eminent economist Professor Rehman Sobhan with distinguished panellists drawn from the public and private sector. The Conference was attended by eminent scholars, policy makers, development practitioners, civil society members, activists, advocacy groups and journalists and generated a lot of interest and provided an effective platform of engagement with key stake holders.
The presentations and videos of the program are available below.
Inaugural Session 
Chair: Dr. K A S Murshid, Director General, BIDS
Chief Guest: Dr. Mashiur Rahman, Economic Affairs Adviser to the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Guest of Honour: Mr. M Syeduzzaman, Former Finance Minister, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Special Guest: Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin, Former Governor, Bangladesh Bank
Technical Session 1: Agriculture , External Price Shocks & Rural Well-being
Paper 1: Intensive and Extensive Land Supply Response to Agricultural Crops
Zabid Iqbal. Find the Presentation
Paper 2: Crop Diversification For dietary Quality: Evidence from Bangladesh Farm Household
Mohammad Riaz Uddin. Find the Presentation
Paper 3: Distributional Impact of Political Violence: Evidence from Differential Impacts on Commodity Price
Mainul Haque. Find the Presentation
Paper 4: An Evaluation of Rural Social Service Programme of the Government of Bangladesh
Harunur Rashid Bhuiyan Find the Presentation
Technical Session 2: Labor Market Issues
Paper 1: Transitions between Informal and Formal Employment: Results from a Worker Survey in Bangladesh
Minhaj Mahmud. Find the Presentation
Paper 2: Labour Supply and its Changes during 2006 to 2016: Focus on Gender and Regional Difference
Iqbal Hossain. Find the Presentation
Paper 3: Assessment of Livelihoods, Skill and Employment Situation of Indigenous and Tribal People in Bangladesh
Kazi Ali Toufique. Find the Presentation
Technical Session 3: Financial Markets & Financial Inclusion
Paper 1: Stylized Facts of the Statistical Properties of Risk and Return of the Dhaka Stock Exchange: 1990-2015
Siban Shahana. Find the Presentation
Paper 2: The Impact of Formal Banking Services on Poverty Reduction: Evidence from Sub-district Level Data of Bangladesh
Kazi Iqbal. Find the Presentation
Paper 3: Mobile Phones, Household Welfare and Women’s Empowerment: Evidence from Rural Off-grid Regions of Bangladesh
Monzur Hossain. Find the Presentation
Technical Session 4: Climate Change , Natural Disaster and Environment
Paper 1: Climatic Influence on Rice production: A Panel data Analysis
Mohammad Asaduzzaman. Find the Presentation
Paper 2: The Household Response To Persistent Natural Disasters: Evidence From Bangladesh
Azreen Karim. Find the Presentation
Paper 3: Indoor-Outdoor Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) levels: The Case of Dhaka Urban and Industrial Area
Mitali Parvin Find the Presentation
Paper 4: A Tale of Two Groups: Focusing on The Differential Vulnerability of “Climate-Induced” and “Non-Climate-Induced” Migrants in Dhaka City
Neelopal Adri. Find the Presentation
Technical Session 5 : Entitlement, Welfare & Violence
Paper 1: Adolescents' Exposure to Violence - An Exploratory Study
K A S Murshid. Find the Presentation
Paper 2: An Inclusive Approach to Care of the Elderly in Bangladesh
Anwara Begum. Find the Presentation
Paper 3: Cooptation of the Unorthodox Fakirs in Contemporary Bangladesh
Golam Nabi Mozumder. Find the Presentation
Technical Session 6: Exports, Firm Performance & Productivity Growth
Paper 1: Economics of Export Processing Zones in Bangladesh
Mohammad Yunus. Find the Presentation
Paper 2: New Avenues for Export Diversification: A Product Level Analysis of Selected Exporting Industries
Rizwana Islam. Find the Presentation
Paper 3: Corporate Governance & Sustainability of Global Value Chains: Bangladesh Ready Made Garment Industry
Nazneen Ahmed. Find the Presentation
Paper 4: Total Factor Productivity in Bangladesh: An Analysis using data from 1981-2015
Maruf Ahmed. Find the Presentation
Closing Session: Bridging the Research-Policy Divide
Chair: Professor Rehman Sobhan, Chairman, Centre for Policy Dialogue
Chief Guest: Mr. A H M Mustafa Kamal, FCA, MP, Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Planning, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Distinguished Panelists:
1. Dr. Shamsul Alam, Member and Senior Secretary, GED, Planning Commission
2. Dr. Sultan Hafeez Rahman, Executive Director, BIGD
3. Dr. Zahid Hussain, Lead Economist, World Bank
4. Abul Kasem Khan, President, Dhaka Chamber
5. Dr. Bhagya Rani Banik, Executive Chairman, BARC