ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Muhammad Salar Khan is a Postdoc Fellow in Sci and Tech Policy at the Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University. He analyzes the link between innovation and economic growth in a comparative context, while also conducting interdisciplinary research on AI, emerging tech, clean energy, agricultural and transport innovation, and innovation diffusion in poor and rich economies. He employs policy analysis, policy processes, and economic theory in his research.

ABOUT THE WEBINAR

Dr. Khan extends the firm-level concept of absorptive capacity to a framework applicable to the national level in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Employing confirmatory factor analyses on 47 variables, he builds 13 composite factors crucial to measuring six national level capacities: technological capacity, financial capacity, human capacity, infrastructural capacity, public policy capacity, and social capacity. 

Data cover most LMICs, eligible for the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) support between 2005 and 2019. Dr. Khan then analyzes the relationship between the estimated capacity factors and economic growth, controlling for potential confounders. His results indicate that enhancing infrastructure, finance, business environment, specialized human capital, and public policy capacities improve economic growth.

Finally, by ranking empirically important capacities for economic growth, he offers suggestions to cash-strapped governments and international organizations such as the World Bank, the UN, and the USAID to make effective investments to achieve sustainable development goals and boost shared prosperity.

Venue and time:

• ZOOM, February 28, 2023, 17:45 (Astana time)

Watch the full video from the past NU GSPP Webinar: