Tyranny of numbers

I attended high school in Neishabour, Iran, and in 1967, after two months at Tehran University’s Faculty of Engineering, I left for UK to study economics, using a Central Bank of Iran scholarship. After finishing my BSc (Econ) at the University of London, Queen Mary College (now Queen Mary University) in 1971, I left for the US for graduate studies. I received my PhD from Harvard University in 1977.

My first job was Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania (1977-84), from where I moved to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, where teach now. I am a Research Fellow of the Economic Research Forum (ERF) in Cairo, and serve as the Managing Editor of its journal, Middle East Development Journal.

I have been visiting faculty at the University of Oxford (1991-92), Brookings Institution (2007-08), and Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, Princeton University (spring 2018), Non-resident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution (2009-2021), and Research Affiliate of the Middle East Initiative 2013-2025.

My research has been in demographic economics, energy economics, and the economics of the Middle East.  Recently, I have been more focused on Iran’s economy.