Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- World Bank Senior Vice-President (Development Economics) and Chief Economist Kaushik Basu arrived in Bangladesh Saturday morning on a five-day visit.
Dr Basu made the visit in response to the invitation of Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr Atiur Rahman.
Bangladesh Bank Chief Economist Biru Paksha Paul received Dr Basu at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at around 5:30am, a BB official told the BBN.
The World Bank (WB) chief economist is scheduled to deliver a public lecture on the challenges and prospect of the world economy, Bangladesh and regional cooperation, at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital Dhaka Sunday afternoon.
Prior to his current posting, Dr. Basu served as the chief economic adviser to the government of India and is currently on leave from Cornell University where he is a professor of economics.
His contributions span development economics, welfare economics, industrial organisation and game theory.
In addition to Cornell, he has taught at the Delhi School of Economics, Harvard, Princeton and the MIT. He has published widely, including more than 160 papers in refereed journals and scholarly volumes.
Mr. Basu has written several books, including “Beyond the invisible hand: groundwork for a new economics” and “An economist in the real world: the art of policymaking in India”.
He holds a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics.
He is the second WB chief economist from a developing country and the first from India
Dr Basu, a fellow of the Econometric Society, received India's Padma Bhushan award as well as the National Mahalanobis Memorial award.
He is scheduled to leave Dhaka on December 16.
BBN/SSR/AD