Areas of Interest:

• Economics of Labor and Human Capital
• Economics of Entrepreneurship
• Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment

Education:

• Ph.D., Economics, University of Southern California, 2010
• MA, Business Administration, Sharif University of Technology, 2004
• B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, 2002

Experience:

• Full Professor, Economics Division Babson College, September 2023 - Present
• Associate Professor, Economics Division Babson College, September 2017- 2022
• Assistant Professor at Babson College between 2010 and 2016
• Research Assistant University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 2006-2007
• Teaching Assistant, Department of Economics, Sept. 2005 – May 2008
• Editorial Assistant for this Scholarly Journal, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Los Angeles, CA, Sept. 2007 – Sept. 2008

Latest Publications:

• “Sir! I’d Rather Go to School, Sir!,” forthcoming in Economic Development and Cultural Change, (accepted in 2025; to be published in 2026) (ABDC A-ranked journal; Impact factor: 2.0)
• “How Ambitious Entrepreneurs Can Accelerate Their Growth with AI”, with Jeffrey Shay, Donna Kelly, and Thomas H. Davenport, forthcoming in Harvard Business Review (Impact factor: 12.129; ABDC A-ranked journal)
• “COVID-19’s gendered effect on subjective wellbeing in MENA countries,” with Ghada Barsoum, Scientific Reports, (accepted 2024; published 2025) (Impact factor: 3.8)
• “Early-life exposure to Saharan dust storms and adolescence functional disability: Evidence from Cameroon,” with Seyed M. Karimi, Mohammad Mostafavi-Dehzooei, Ghadir Asadi, and Claire S. Jacobs, Science of The Total Environment, (2022) (Impact factor: 10.753)