Asad Islam

Biographic Data

ID3582956
NAMEAsad Islam
GIVEN NAMESAsad
FAMILY NAMEIslam
SIGNATUREISLAM A
AFFILIATIONSMonash University
ORCID0000-0002-0928-0454
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS35
TOTAL CITATIONS99
AUTHOR COUNT35
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2008
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX5

  • Microcredit Participation and Fertility

    Open AccessAsad Islam, Mustafa Kamal et al.ARTICLEThe Journal of Development Studies2026

    Bangladesh has experienced a significant decline in fertility in recent decades. At the same time, the country has witnessed a rapid increase in microcredit coverage. This article examines the role of microcredit in fertility decline in Bangladesh. It uses a large household-level panel dataset for the period 1997–2005 designed specifically to evaluate microcredit programmes across Bangladesh. Using a difference-in-differences framework combined w…

  • Building education resilience through parenting style and out-of-school learning

    Open AccessHashibul Hassan, Asad Islam et al.ARTICLEEconomics of Education Review2025

  • Corruption in Cyclone Relief and Reconstruction

    Shaikh Eskander, Asad Islam et al.ARTICLEThe Journal of Development Studies2025

    After the 2009 cyclone ‘Aila’, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh announced a special assistance of Tk. 20,000 (∼$300) to rebuild the houses of the affected households. We examine the role of networks in determining the incidence and extent of corruption associated with this grant by using two rounds of a household-level survey collected before and after the announcement and distribution of the grant. Our results inform that although bribery and mi…

  • Diffusion in social networks

    Open AccessMarcel Fafchamps, Asad Islam et al.ARTICLEJournal of Development Economics2025References: 12

  • Response to “A Commentary on ‘Gender Bias in Parental Attitude

    Open AccessLutfunnahar Begum, Philip J Grossman et al.ARTICLEDemography2025References: 1

  • All pain and no gain

    Open AccessAsad Islam, Sungoh Kwon et al.ARTICLEEconomics of Education Review2024

    We conducted an at-scale randomized control trial among 18,281 secondary students in Tanzania to examine the effects of self-set academic goals on students’ efforts and academic outcomes. We also tested the impact of combining goal setting with non-financial rewards. We found that goal-setting had a significant positive effect on self-reported student time use, study effort, and self-discipline, along with a positive but statistically insignifica…

  • Raising Health Awareness in Rural Communities

    Abu Siddique, Tariq Rahman et al.ARTICLEThe Review of Economics and…2024

    Delivering validated information to rural areas is a major challenge in low-income countries. In this paper, we study information provision to rural communities in the context of a global outbreak of an infectious disease—COVID-19. Two weeks after the initial lockdown in March 2020, we conducted a randomized experiment in rural Bangladesh and India to disseminate health information over the phone. We find that relative to information provided via…

  • Telementoring and Homeschooling During School Closures

    Open AccessHashibul Hassan, Asad Islam et al.ARTICLEThe Economic Journal2024Cited by: 1References: 1

    Using a randomised experiment in 200 Bangladeshi villages, we evaluate the impact of an over-the-phone learning support intervention (telementoring) among primary school children and their mothers during Covid-19 school closures. Post-intervention, treated children scored 35% higher on a standardised test, and the homeschooling involvement of treated mothers increased by 22 minutes per day (26%). We also found that the intervention forestalled tr…

  • Partisan Effects of Information Campaigns in Competitive Authoritarian Elections

    Open AccessFiroz Ahmed, Roland Hodler et al.ARTICLEThe Economic Journal2023Cited by: 1References: 24

    To study the effects of non-partisan information and get-out-the-vote campaigns on the partisan composition of the voting population in competitive authoritarian elections, we conducted a large-scale field experiment prior to the 2018 Bangladeshi general election. Our two treatments highlight that high turnout increases the winning party’s legitimacy and that election outcomes matter for policy outcomes. Both treatments increase turnout (measured…

  • The long-term effects of genocide on antisocial preferences

    Open AccessLata Gangadharan, Asad Islam et al.ARTICLEWorld Development2022References: 12

  • Determinants and dynamics of food insecurity during Covid-19 in rural Bangladesh

    Open AccessFiroz Ahmed, Asad Islam et al.ARTICLEFood Policy2021Cited by: 6References: 4

  • The Effects of Chess Instruction on Academic and Non-cognitive Outcomes

    Open AccessAsad Islam, Wang-Sheng Lee et al.ARTICLEJournal of Development Economics2021References: 2

  • How do children of immigrants perform? Evidence from Australian nationwide standardized tests

    Open AccessAsad Islam, Dipanwita Sarkar et al.ARTICLEInternational Migration2021References: 8

    We examine the educational achievement of children of immigrants and native‐born parents in Australia, using nationally representative panel data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children linked to nationwide standardized examinations. The findings indicate that children of immigrants perform significantly better than children of native‐born Australians in five subjects and three grade levels. While this reflects Australia's shift toward…

  • Stigma and misconceptions in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic

    Open AccessAsad Islam, Debayan Pakrashi et al.ARTICLESocial Science & Medicine2021Cited by: 5References: 32

  • Labour Market Participation of Women in Rural Bangladesh

    Asad Islam, Asadul Islam et al.ARTICLEThe Journal of Development Studies2020

    Using a large panel dataset on the labour supply behaviours of women and men within households in rural Bangladesh, we find robust evidence that the effects of microfinance on the labour supply are not symmetrical for women and men across different occupations. We also find that giving households access to microfinance helps to smooth out the seasonality in the labour supply via on-farm self-employment-based activities. Within households, the mal…

  • Can referral improve targeting? Evidence from an agricultural training experiment

    Open AccessMarcel Fafchamps, Asad Islam et al.ARTICLEJournal of Development Economics2020Cited by: 3References: 3

  • Distributional Effects of Corruption When Enforcement is Biased

    Open AccessM Shahe Emran, Asad Islam et al.ARTICLEEconomica2020Cited by: 1References: 42

    In many models of corruption where enforcement is unbiased, the rich are more likely to pay bribes for their children's education, implying that corruption reduces educational inequality. We develop models of bribery that reflect the fact that in developing countries, anticorruption enforcement is not unbiased, and higher income of a household is associated with higher bargaining power and better quality of institutions. In models of biased enfor…

  • Friendship and Female Education

    Open AccessYoujin Hahn, Asad Islam et al.ARTICLEThe Economic Journal2020References: 40

    We randomly assigned 115 primary schools in Bangladesh to one of two settings: children studying in groups with friends and children studying in groups with peers. The groups consisted of four people with similar average cognitive abilities and household characteristics. While the achievement of male students was not affected by the group assignment, low-ability females with friends outperformed low-ability females working with peers by roughly 0…

  • Labour Market and Human Capital Behaviour of Immigrant Couples

    Open AccessSarah‐Jane Derby, Asad Islam et al.ARTICLEInternational Migration2019Cited by: 2References: 1

    We examine the labour market and human capital investment behaviour of immigrant couples in Australia. The family investment hypothesis (FIH) states that immigrant husbands, whom the FIH assumes to be the primary earners in the family, will invest more in their human capital than immigrant wives, whom the FIH assumes to be secondary earners. Using longitudinal data from Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) for the period 200…

  • Survey measures versus incentivized measures of risk preferences

    Open AccessAsad Islam, Russell Smyth et al.ARTICLESocial Science & Medicine2019Cited by: 1References: 25

  • Gender Bias in Parental Attitude

    Open AccessLutfunnahar Begum, Philip J Grossman et al.ARTICLEDemography2018References: 37

    Parental bias toward children of a particular gender has been widely observed in many societies. Such bias could be due to pure gender preference or differences in earning opportunities and concern for old-age support. We conduct a high-stakes allocation task (subjects allocate the equivalent of one day’s wages between male and female school-aged students) in rural Bangladesh to examine parental attitudes toward male and female children. Parents,…

  • Education, Marriage, and Fertility

    Youjin Hahn, Asad Islam et al.ARTICLEEconomic Development and Cultural…2018Cited by: 8References: 33

    In 1994, Bangladesh introduced the Female Secondary School Stipend Program that made secondary education free for rural girls. This paper examines the long-term effects of the stipend program on education, marriage, fertility, and labor market outcomes of women. We find that the stipend increased years of education for eligible girls by 14%–25%. These girls were more likely to get married later and have fewer children. They also had more autonomy…

  • Girl Power

    Lutfunnahar Begum, Asad Islam et al.ARTICLEThe Journal of Development Studies2017

    We examine the effects of the schooling of girls on the education of their younger siblings. To examine the causal effect of the education of older children on their younger siblings, we use the introduction of a gender-targeted conditional cash transfer program – the Female Secondary School Stipend Program (FSSSP) in Bangladesh. We find that an additional year of schooling of older siblings increases schooling of their younger siblings by 0.13 y…

  • The Intergenerational Effect of Cambodia's Genocide on Children's Education and Health

    Open AccessAsad Islam, Asadul Islam et al.ARTICLEPopulation and Development Review2017Cited by: 2References: 9

    We investigate the intergenerational impact of conflict on the educational and health outcomes of children born years after the conflict ended by exploiting geographical variation in the intensity of the genocide that occurred during the Khmer Rouge (KR) regime in Cambodia. We find that children of individuals who were of prime marriage age during the genocide and experienced greater intensity of genocide have worse educational and health outcome…

  • The Long-Term Health Effects of Mass Political Violence

    Open AccessAsad Islam, Asadul Islam et al.ARTICLESocial Indicators Research2017Cited by: 7References: 45