Poverty and human development challenges in Arab countries
Please book to attend in person.
In this presentation Dr Khalid Abu-Ismail will discuss ESCWA’s World Development Challenges Report and its related background papers.

Dr Khalid Abu-Ismail is Chief of Economic Development and Poverty Section, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia and formerly Macroeconomics and Poverty Policy Adviser with UNDP’s Regional Center for Arab States. He provides policy advice and policy oriented research on topics related to Human Development, Poverty, Inequality and Economic Growth. He received his Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from New School for Social Research, New York. Abu-Ismail is an ERF Policy Affiliate

Dr Adeel Malik, Globe Fellow in the Economies of Muslim Societies and Associate Professor will participate as a discussant. Adeel Malik is a development macroeconomist with a strong multi-disciplinary orientation. His research engages with questions of long-run development, political economy and economic history, with a special focus on Muslim societies. His work combines quantitative and qualitative research methods. Apart from engaging with cross-country empirics on development, he is trying to develop a broader research lens on the political economy of the Middle East. His most recent contribution to the field was an article on ‘The Economics of the Arab Spring’, which received the Best Paper Award. It has now been translated into Arabic and several other languages, and formed the basis for a dedicated story in The Economist magazine. Another emerging area of interest is the interplay between religion, land and politics in Pakistan, which he is exploring as part of an IFPRI-funded project on structural constraints to public goods provision in Punjab.

He also holds the Globe Fellowship in the Economies of Muslim Societies at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, and is a Research Associate of the Centre for the Study of African Economies and the Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource-Rich Economies, both based at the Department of Economics. He co-directs the ERF Project on the Political Economy of Private Sector Dynamism in the Middle East, and serves as an associate editor of the Palgrave Dictionary of Economics (Middle East Economics and Finance).

Before joining ODID, he completed his doctorate in economics at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 2004. His previous research affiliations include: the Department of Economics, Oxford University (2004-05); Merton College (2002-03 and 2005-06); Center for International Development, Harvard University (2001), and Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre, Islamabad (1997-1999).

Corinne Mitchell will also participate as a discussant. Corinne Mitchell is the Director of Programmes and Operations at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), where she has worked since 2015. In her current role she manages the day-to-day affairs of the organization. She also works with national governments and international agencies in the development and analysis of multidimensional poverty measures. She led a research project computing changes in multidimensional poverty over time for 80 countries. She has also been involved with coordinating the activities of the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network (MPPN).

The event is hybrid and will be livestreamed via Zoom gwu-edu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_50pqFri3R5Gs2fkcp4Rrpg
Date: 20 November 2023, 16:00 (Monday, 7th week, Michaelmas 2023)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Venue Details: Damascus Room
Speaker: Dr Khalid Abu-Ismail (ESCWA)
Organising department: Oxford Department of International Development
Organisers: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (University of Oxford), Pedro Conceição (UNDP HDRO), Professor James Foster (Georges Washington University), Professor Sabina Alkire (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: maya.evans@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Part of: OPHI Weekly Seminars: Multidimensional Poverty
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://www.oxcis.ac.uk/form/poverty-human-development-arab-c
Audience: Members of the University only
Editors: Maya Evans, Adeel Malik