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Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak Profile picture
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2 Sep, 6 tweets, 5 min read
Some misinterpretation of our #Bangladesh Mask RCT by those who don’t read research, which I’ll ignore, but also some parochial/racist reactions, which I must respond to nbcnews.com/science/scienc…
1."Americans experimenting on Bangladeshis to inform Americans”. Sorry, not all work is done to service Westerners. I [co-lead (clearly signaled as last) author], am Bangladeshi. We conducted study to primarily benefit LMICs. Study sites included districts where my family resides
We did NOT withhold masks from control group for research. Even while data collection was being completed, we personally secured donations of 100 million+ masks to distribute for free in 🇧🇩🇮🇳🇵🇰🇳🇵because the research showed positive effects.
Before you ever heard about results, we had intense discussions with governments in 🇧🇩🇮🇳🇵🇰🇲🇽🇺🇾🇳🇵🇸🇱, @WHO @gatesfoundation @WorldBank on scaling. We designed the @MaskNorm program based on our research, already implemented to benefit 100 million+ people tinyurl.com/maskpromotion
3. “Why are we talking masks when vaccines are available?”. Vaccines are available for YOU, but not in rural Bangladesh. Until you stop withholding vaccines from LMICs, masks remain an important line of defense to limit COVID spread.
Non-authors who have given their heart and soul to scale up this program to reach 100m+ and save lives deserve special recognition: @heidilinz, @NeelaSaldanha, @MahaRehman1, Janani R., @PreetiAdhikary, @jose_pinillab, @GPGautamPatel, and many partners tinyurl.com/norm2min

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More from @mushfiq_econ

Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak Profile picture
21 Jan
Educated, skilled workers are more likely to emigrate away from polluted cities. This affects aggregate productivity and welfare, and also explains ~14% of an enduring macro-development puzzle:
Why do people remain in low-productivity areas when big cities offer higher wages?
Greater out-migration of the college-educated from polluted areas is clearly evident even in the raw data in China (see maps), but we use multiple data sources and empirical techniques to uncover the causal effect of pollution on emigration
Implication for aggregative productivity and pollution policy?
Emigration response of the skilled means that the unskilled left behind become less productive. Skilled and unskilled workers are complements in production in China. Asymmetric migration creates a spatial mismatch
Read 9 tweets
Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak Profile picture
10 Nov 20
A thread on my sense of the immediate #policypriorities for @JoeBiden & @KamalaHarris administration, to undo the most consequential damages wrought by the last 4 years. A journalist’s question forced me to think about #economicpolicy, so I thought I'd get your reactions. [1/9]
First, bring #COVID under control. There’s no lives vs livelihoods tradeoff. Economy will move only when the virus is contained. Rich people need to feel comfortable to go out, to spend money. They hold back due to fear of contracting COVID, not due to any #lockdown [2/9]
The strategies are simple: Lead by example to instill a sense of civic duty. Inspire citizens to wear masks and make small sacrifices to protect each other. Put the amazing US #publichealth talent in charge to develop robust testing, tracing [3/9] cnn.com/2020/11/03/afr…
Read 9 tweets
Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak Profile picture
16 Jun 20
#COVID spreads through human-to-human transmission, so #migrants are an important vector. In the absence of adequate covid tests in LMICs, can we predict sub-national COVID spread, or identify likely hotspots using data on migration?

Short answer: Yes.
yrise.yale.edu/using-migratio…
Data on airport returnees predict subsequent quarantines & #COVID19 distress calls across districts in #Bangladesh. Data on migration permits predict confirmed cases in #Philippines municipalities and Bangladeshi sub-districts.
Beyond the validation using public health data, our recent phone surveys across Bangladesh helps to ground-truth this approach:
Living in communities with recent #migrant returnees triples the odds (!) of reporting #COVID symptoms. This is the single largest risk factor.
Read 5 tweets
Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak Profile picture
12 May 20
Nearly a million #Rohingya refugees reside in densely packed camps in Coxbazar, Bangladesh. We conducted surveys of representative samples of refugees and Bangladeshi hosts living near camps after #COVID19 crisis hit. Alarming findings out in @WHOBulletin: who.int/bulletin/onlin…
Both hosts and refugees face significant economic distress.
59% of hosts and 72% of refugees unable to buy essential items.
Sharp decrease in employment: 76% of males in host communities were employed in July 2019, but only 21% today.
Coauthors: Paula Lopez-Pena @caustindavis
25% of Rohingyas and 13% of hosts report at least one COVID symptom (defined as per WHO guidelines).
Many are high-risk w/ underlying disease.
Economic vulnerability doubles the odds of COVID symptoms.
Living in communities with recent migrant returnees triples the odds.
Read 7 tweets
Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak Profile picture
8 May 20
A @dawn_com op-ed accuses me of valuing #Pakistani lives less than American lives because our paper (foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/10/poo…) uses VSL. The following 3 tweets explain in plain English (as the writer requests) why this is a gross misrepresentation.
Richer people can afford to stay at home. Both this journalist and I can work from home, and even if not, we're willing to sacrifice our economic livelihoods to avoid the risk of contracting COVID. Because even with pay-cuts, we can still easily put food on the table
A poor day-wage laborer in Pakistan, in contrast, is willing to forego less of his economic livelihood, because staying at home in a shutdown means that his family may not have enough to eat.
Read 6 tweets
Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak Profile picture
14 Oct 19
You've heard about the Econ Nobelists’ contributions, but I’d like to share anecdotes on the personal impact that the trio have had on so many. Their humanity should not get overshadowed by their brilliance. They are excellent humans, first and foremost. vox.com/future-perfect…
In 2001 I was in the UMD Ph.D. program which had no faculty listing “development econ” as their primary field. I had no exposure to modern devo. #AbhijitBanerjee stopped by my poster at a @WIDER conf in Helsinki, and politely, gently explained that what I was doing was not great.
That was the most important 20 minutes of my Ph.D. educ. This is taking nothing away from my incredibly supportive PhD advisors who were in other fields

Abhijit and I were on same flight back, and he came back to Economy class to sit with me for an hour to chat! I learnt a lot
Read 9 tweets

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