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 fro graduate school. I got my PhD from Harvard University in 1977.

I am currently Professor of Economics at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, where I have lived since 1984. I am a Research Fellow at the Economic Research Forum in Cairo, and Research Affiliate at the Middle East Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School.

My first job was Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania (1977-84).  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).  During 2009-2021, I was a Non-resident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution.

My research has been in demographic economics, energy economics, and the economics of the Middle East.  You can learn more about my research and other writings from my personal web page.