He is a development economist, and has worked extensively in Bangladesh. His recent research focuses on microfinance, schooling and health, petty corruption, immigration and risk-sharing mechanisms of households. He has currently a number of experimental research projects in India and Bangladesh to understand the influence of social networks in the area of education and agriculture. He is working closely with a number of NGOs in Bangladesh including BRAC. He is also the founder of an independent research organisation/NGO (Initiative for Development Research and Implementation-IDRI) in Bangladesh which employs local researchers and field workers to help academics around the world to conduct surveys and experiments including large scale RCTs.