Farhan Majid

Dr. Majid is a development economist with expertise in applied econometrics, program evaluation methods, and policy analysis with specific research focusing on contributing to the evidence base on economic returns to investing in maternal and child health and in identifying economic innovations that can transform global health and wealth. He has significant experience in conducting quasi-experimental and experimental evaluations. He has studied policy-relevant problems using primary and secondary data; qualitative and quantitative data; and he has designed online and offline survey instruments. He has significant experience with grant writing and grant management. Dr. Majid's work has been supported by several grants, including a National Institutes of Health grant for which he is a Principal Investigator. His policy projects have spanned across the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Dr. Majid has been invited to more than 30 talks, including a TEDx Talk, and presented at more than 26 other conferences. He has also had the opportunity to engage in dialogue with policy makers in developing countries as diverse as Peru and Malawi. He has translated research studies through radio interviews, documentaries, op-eds, and policy briefs for a wide array of audiences, including the White House, and more broadly to media outlets like The Hill and Huffington Post. In Peru, Dr. Majid has collaborated with policy makers and researchers to make JUNTOS, their cash transfer program, more transparent and to evaluate its long-term effects on contraceptive use, fertility, and women’s empowerment.

Prior Experience

Prior to joining IMPAQ, Dr. Majid was an Assistant Professor at University of Georgia's Department of Economics. Previously, he was the L.E. and Virginia Simmons Fellow in Health and Technology Policy at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. Over the years, Dr. Majid has enjoyed collaborating with development enthusiasts across various walks of life and academic disciplines (e.g., demography, epidemiology) and mentoring researchers from high school students all the way to postdocs

Education

Dr. Majid received a dual AB and AM in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a PhD in economics from the University of California, Riverside. In addition, he received postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania and McGill University.

Select Previous Publications

Majid, M.F. (2015). The persistent effects of in utero nutrition shocks over the life cycle: Evidence from Ramadan fasting. Journal of Development Economics, 117, 48-57.

Majid, M .F., Rodríguez, J.M., Harper, S., Frank, J., & Nandi, A. (2016). Do minimum wages improve early life health? Evidence from developing countries. Social Science & Medicine, 158, 105-131.

Kang, S., Damania, A., Majid, M.F., & Hotez, P.J. (2018). Extending the global worm index and its links to human development and child education. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 12(6), e0006322.

Blum, A.J., Majid, M.F., & Hotez, P.J. (2018). Pakistan: A nation held back by NTDs. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 12(10), e0006751.

Huang, J.Y., Majid, M.F., & Daku, M. (2019). Estimating effects of Uber ride-sharing service on road traffic-related deaths in South Africa: a quasi-experimental study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Jan 11, jech-2018.

Majid, M.F., Kang, S., & Hotez, P.J. (2019). The deworming debate: An extended comparison review of findings from key economics and epidemiological studies. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 13(3), e0006940. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006940

Majid, M.F., Behrman, J.R., & Mani, S. (2019). Short- and long-term distributional consequences of fasting during pregnancy. BMJ Global Health.

Khan, B. & Majid, M.F. (2020). Gender reservation wage gap in developing countries. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, June.

Majid, M.F. & Behrman, J.R. (Forthcoming). Early life health and the labor market. Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics.

Majid, M.F., Omer, S., & Khwaja, A. (Forthcoming). Optimizing SARS-CoV-2 pooled testing for low resource settings. Lancet Microbe.

Majid, M.F. & Behrman, J.R. Minimum wages and child heath: Evidence from Indonesia. Baker Institute Working Paper Revisions Requested from World Bank Economic Review.

Banerjee, R. & Majid, M.F. (2019). Understanding the role of parents in reinforcing inequalities over the life course. Baker Institute Working Paper.

Majid, M.F., Orman, W.H., & Dasgupta, A. (2019). Do beef bans affect women’s health? Baker Institute Working Paper.

Laszlo, S., Majid, M.F., & Renee, L. (2019). Conditional cash transfers, women’s empowerment and reproductive choices. Grow Working Paper Series, McGill University.

Carpio, M.A., Majid, M.F., Laszlo, S., Sanchez, A., & Janzic, Z. (2019). Peru’s JUNTOS conditional cash transfer program: Geographic targeting. ISID, Grow Working Paper Series, McGill University. (Paper is written in both English and Spanish).

Andrabi et al. (2020). Smart containment with active learning (SCALE): A proposal for a data responsive and graded response to COVID-19. Cambridge, MA: Center for International Development, Harvard University.