Muhammad Bashir

I am predoc in Economics Department at Columbia University. I work for professors Michael Carlos Best in Public Finance and Jack J. Willis in Development Economics.

My primary research interests are in Public Economics and I am also interested in Macro and IO. In my ongoing projects, I study dynamic implications of size based tax policies, impact of anti tax-avoidance policies on local firms and firm informality. I am more broadly interested in understanding firms, in particular firm incorporation and firm growth in developing countries from the perspective of tax and industrial policy.

Before joining Columbia University, I completed my MSc in Economics at the University of Manchester where I was advised by Mazhar Waseem. Earlier in my academic journey, I received a BS in Economics and Mathematics from the Department of Mathematics at the Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore. I had the privilege of being National Outreach Program scholar at LUMS, a prestigious scholarship envisaged by Syed Babar Ali.

On a personal note, my interests extend beyond economics and delve deep into the realms of mathematics and the rich tapestry of Punjabi language and culture. I hold a special reverence for the poetic genius of Bulleh Shah, whose verses resonate deeply with me. While I value the traditional essence of his poetry, I often find myself interpreting his words through a contemporary lens, drawing parallels with modern sensibilities and contexts.

I just wrote this guide for how to do research in applied microeconomics with my amazing faculty mentor Michael Best and his PhD student Luigi Caloi. Comments and suggestions are most welcome and you can ask questions by opening an issue at the GitHub repository of this book.