Akib Khan

DoB: Apr 08, 1990 PhD Applicant

ID: U44363901 Statement of Purpose Dept of Economics

My application for the doctoral program in Economics at the Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences (GSAS) of Boston University is primarily driven by my aspiration of becoming a
professional researcher and instructor in this field. A unique combination of various
outstanding features, namely world-class faculty members with research interests
consonant with mine, diverse and brilliant peer base, spectacular placement history, and
access to the exceptionally cerebral Boston campus, has persuaded me to choose this
institution to advance my preparation for attaining the above-mentioned career goals.

My introduction to Economics in the freshman year presented an excellent opportunity for

the marriage of my predilection for science, in general, and mathematics, in particular, and
drive for understanding diverse social phenomena. The possibility of an objective analysis of
human behavior in both market and non-market places, and at different levels of
aggregation that the tools of Economics offered, highly encouraged me. As I delved deeper
by taking courses in intermediate micro and macro, mathematical economics and statistical
methods, my enthusiasm escalated and firmer became my conviction that, given my
academic predispositions, this would be the perfect discipline to pursue further studies. At
the same time, I realized that mastering the ‘economic way’ of analyzing any phenomenon
would require proper acquisition of analytical, mathematical and statistical skills essential for
both - constructing and/or interpreting theory, and garnering empirical evidence. To prepare
myself as best as I could, I, therefore, took all available advanced theory, mathematics and
econometrics courses in the succeeding academic journey. For the fulfillment of my career
objectives and thereby, my academic training, a graduate education is the most logical next
step for me.

To further enhance my skill set, I also decided to equip myself with some hands-on research
experience involving application of microeconomic theories and microeconometrics, areas
which have fascinated me most. I am utterly intrigued by the coherent analytical framework
offered by the former, the innovative empirical tools that the latter developed, and the
vibrant and symbiotic relationship between them. My journey in the field of research began
as early as in the junior year as a Research Assistant (RA) under Tanweer Hasan (Professor of
Finance, Roosevelt University, USA) at the Institute of Microfinance, Bangladesh. The project
entailed an empirical analysis of the impact of governance mechanisms on the performance
and outreach of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Bangladesh. Being responsible for data
management, literature review and aiding econometric analysis, it enabled me to explore,
both theoretically and empirically, the institutional and financial structure of MFIs.

The turning point in my research career, however, was marked by my collaboration with
Atonu Rabbani (Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh; Post-
Doctoral Fellow, Urban Services Initiative, J-PAL) in the senior year. Using a unique GIS data-
set from Northern Bangladesh, we set out to explore the yet-to-discover geospatial aspects
of microfinance, particularly scrutinizing the supply side. We were primarily concerned with
the conceptualization, estimation and graphical representation of spatial accessibility (SA) of
micro-financial services, identification of its spatial determinants and evaluation of its
explanatory power for household borrowing behavior. We found that geographical
detachment from physical infrastructure and administrative centers, and exposure to
ecological shocks significantly reduce the spatial access (to microfinance products). Our
estimates of (potential) spatial access, moreover, turned out to be robustly (positively)
Akib Khan
DoB: Apr 08, 1990 PhD Applicant
ID: U44363901 Statement of Purpose Dept of Economics
associated with both the incidence and extent of micro-borrowing (or in other words,
realized access). The concept of SA, although widely utilized in other branches of research
(e.g., health care, education), was relatively new to microfinance and therefore, required me
to draw from studies carried out in other disciplines (e.g., Geography, Planning and
Development, Public health) and more importantly, synthesize them with theoretical and
empirical observations from my own. Extremely useful, too, was the first-hand training I
received in scientific writing while developing a paper reporting this research as the primary
author. It is currently being revised for resubmission to the Journal of Regional Science. In
both of these projects, I did not hesitate to strive and develop expertise on my own, whether
that be by getting acquainted with advanced econometric tools (by consulting textbooks
such as Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data by Wooldridge (2002) and
Mostly Harmless Econometrics by Angrist and Pischke (2008)) or by learning software
programming (e.g., STATA, ArcGIS).

Utilizing the skills developed during the above-mentioned studies, I have had four other
notable research experiences. Using the above-mentioned SA score as instrument, I wrote a
term paper aiming to estimate the causal effect of microcredit participation on the likelihood
of informal borrowing. Though the evidence that this paper found regarding the presence of
any ‘crowding-out’ effect was rather weak, it strongly opposed any complementarity – as
suggested by the OLS estimates - between these two sources of rural credit. I was also a co-
author in a working paper which utilized a nationally representative household income and
expenditure survey to identify the impact of credit on food security and dietary diversity in
Bangladesh. Both of these papers are currently being worked on for journal submission. The
prior exposure to geospatial analysis, on the other hand, helped me contribute to a book
chapter titled ‘Industrial Growth and Location Dynamics’, in conjunction with MA Taslim
(Chair and Professor of Economics, University of Dhaka), which analyzed the dynamics of
industrialization (in Bangladesh) and its spatial background. Also edifying was my short stint
as an RA for Dr. Rabbani in a field experiment exploring the prospect of improving rural
effective sanitation through the involvement of female local government members, during
which I actively participated in designing survey instruments.

Collectively, these engagements, despite being heterogeneous in topic, scope and approach,
have helped me get familiar and comfortable with the entire range of activities that a full-
fledged research project typically entails and in turn, makes me confident that I would be
capable of carrying out high-standard research at your institution. Although the faculty there
is known for being extremely strong overall, particularly stimulating for me is the high
number of researchers working in areas which closely fit my interests (Dilip Mookherjee,
Kevin Lang, M. Daniele Paserman, Claudia Olivetti, to name a few).

Currently, I am working on extending my collaboration with Dr. Rabbani by investigating the

labor market outcome of microcredit participation and its welfare implications. Also under
consideration is a study exploring the competition-compliance nexus in the microfinance
market. Before joining the graduate school, I would also like to self-tutor in the promising
trade of field experiments in more detail.

To recapitulate, my objectives for the graduate school are three-fold: a) furthering my

training in economic theory and quantitative methods, b) conducting innovative research on
timely issues, and c) appropriately combining the former two to establish myself as an
effective educator and researcher in the field of Economics. Boston University, with her
Akib Khan
DoB: Apr 08, 1990 PhD Applicant
ID: U44363901 Statement of Purpose Dept of Economics
strength in Economics research and education, undoubtedly appears to be the most natural
choice to help fulfill these academic and professional goals of mine.