Staff profile

Habib Rahman is a Professor of Economics at Durham University. He holds positions at Curtin University and Monash University. Also, prior to Durham, he held research appointments at Deakin University and the University of Melbourne. Before moving to academia, he worked for several international development partners such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) Thailand.  

His research interests are at the crossroads of Development Economics and Applied Macroeconomics. Recently, he conducts experiments related to the economics of exogenous shocks (e.g., natural disasters, climate change, and famines) and their bearings on economic performance and political institutions. He has been successful in attracting several external grants from the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Royal Norwegian Foreign Affairs, Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction (GFDRR) Nepal, Asian-Pacific Network (APN) Japan, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, and Bushfire & Natural Hazard Cooperative Research Centre (BNH-CRC) of Australia.

He regularly extends his technical assistance to government and non-government organisations. He has published in well-recognized academic journals such as the Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Health Economics, Energy Economics, Economic Record, Southern Economic Journal, Public Choice, and Economic Modelling. His research has informed public policies to the governments of Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

My CV can be downloaded at www.hrahman.net

Award Grants

1. Building the Ecosystem to Support Carbon Market Establishment, 2023, Principal Investigator; Funded by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Vietnam, Australia, Country: Australia and Vietnam, Grant: AUD 213,797
2. The Design and Delivery of an Australian Awards Short Course in Carbon Market Operation and Cooperative Mechanisms Under the Paris Agreement, 2022, Team Leader; Funded by Aus4Skills Programme, The Australian Government, Country: Australia and Vietnam, Grant: AUD 641,528
3. The New Normal: COVID-19 and Changed Patterns of Dwelling Demand and Supply, 2022-2023, Principal Investigator; Funded by Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), Australia, Country: Australia, Grant: AUD 162,179
4. Developing a Framework for Facilitating Nationally Determined Contributions for Paris Commitments in the Indo-Pacific Countries, 2021-2022, Team Leader; Funded by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australia, Country: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Kiribati, Malaysia, Nauru, Pakistan, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, Grant: AUD 487,230
5. Innovating Non-monetary Interventions for Climate-smart Agriculture: An ADOPT Model for Technology Diffusion, 2021- 2022, Team Leader; Funded by Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) through Climate Innovation Challenge (CIC), The World Bank, Country: Bangladesh, Grant: AUD 209,032
6. Estimating the Impact of Free Parking Arrangements on Local Economic Activity: Evidence from the Town of Victoria Park, 2021 – 2022, Team Leader; Funded by Council of East Victoria, Western Australia, Country: Australia, Grant: AUD 13,900
7. An Inquiry into the Integration of Sustainable Development Goal 13 in the Curricula of ABDC Member Business Schools, 2021 – 2022, Principal Investigator; Funded by Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC), Country: Australia, Grant: AUD 19,200
8. The new normal: Has Covid-19 changed patterns of dwelling demand and supply?, 2021 – 2022, Team Leader; Funded by Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), Country: Australia, Grant: AU$162,179
9. Rural Women Empowerment Through Entrepreneurship in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, 2019-2021, Principal Investigator; Funded by Monash University Malaysia-ASEAN Sustainable Development Grant Scheme, Country: Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, Grant: AUD 287,205
10. Rural Women Empowerment Through Entrepreneurship, 2019 – 2021, Principal Investigator; Funded by Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, Country: Malaysia, Grant: AUD 27,000
11. Do Natural Disasters Breed Mistrust in the Society? Evidence from Bangladesh , 2019, Principal Investigator; Funded by Global Asia in the 21st Century, Monash University, Country: Bangladesh, Grant: RM 10,000
12. Enforcing and Defending Social Norms: A Field Experiment, 2019, Team Leader; Funded by Monash Business School, Monash University, Country: Malaysia, Grant: RM 10,000
13. Optimising Post-Disaster Recovery Interventions in Australia, 2017 – 2020, Principal Investigator; Funded by Bushfire & Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (BNH CRC), Australian Government, Country: Australia, Grant: AUD 560,000
14. Pre-Disaster Multi-Hazard Damage and Economic Loss Estimation Model, 2014 – 2016, Principal Investigator; Funded by BNH CRC, Australian Government, Country: Australia, Grant: AUD 525,000
15. Developing Climate Inclusive Potential Loss and Damage Assessment Method for Floods, 2014 – 2017, Principal Investigator; Funded by Asian-Pacific Network (APN) through ADPC Thailand Study Area: Australia, Country: Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand, Grant: USD 150,000
16. Evaluating the Impact of an Integrated DRR and Economic Development Model, 2013 – 2016, Project Lead; Funded by Mercy Corps USA through ADPC Thailand, Country: Indonesia, Nepal, and Timor-Leste, Grant: USD 100,000
17. Collaborative Action towards Societal Challenges through Awareness, Development, and Education (CASCADE), 2013 – 2014, Lead Consultant; Funded by European Commission through ADPC Thailand, Country: Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Grant: USD 18,000
18. Phase I and II: Integrating Natural Disasters into Economic Modelling, 2013 – 2014, Lead Consultant; Funded by The Royal Norwegian Foreign Affairs through ADPC Thailand, Country: Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam, Grant: USD 20,000
19. Nepal Hazard Risk Assessment through economic loss probability modelling, 2009 – 2011, Economic Analyst; Funded by The World Bank through ADPC Thailand, Country: Nepal, Grant: USD 250,000

• Development Economics
• Climate Change
• Natural Disasters
• Political Economy

Chapter in book

• Rahman, M., & Ulubaşoğlu, M. (2015). Economic growth: Measurement. In J. D. Wright (Ed.), International Encyclopaedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (45-50). (Second edition). Elsevier

Journal Article

• Akbulut-Yuksel, M., Rahman, M. H., & Ulubaşoğlu, M. A. (2023). Silver lining of the water: The role of government relief assistance in disaster recovery. European Journal of Political Economy, 79, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2023.102436
• Bhattacharya, P. S., Chowdhury, P. R., & Rahman, H. (2023). Does credit availability mitigate domestic conflict?. Economic Modelling, 119, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2022.106105
• Rahman, M. H., Anbarci, N., & Ulubaşoğlu, M. A. (2022). “Storm autocracies”: Islands as natural experiments. Journal of Development Economics, 159, Article 102982. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2022.102982
• Johnston, D. W., Önder, Y. K., Rahman, M. H., & Ulubaşoğlu, M. A. (2021). Evaluating wildfire exposure: Using wellbeing data to estimate and value the impacts of wildfire. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 192, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2021.10.029
• Guven, C., Hoang, T., Rahman, M. H., & Ulubaşoğlu, M. A. (2021). Long‐term effects of malnutrition on early‐life famine survivors and their offspring: New evidence from the Great Vietnam Famine 1944–45. Health Economics, 30(7), https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4274
• Rahman, M. H., Lee, G. H., Shabnam, N., & Jayasinghe, S. (2020). Weathering trust. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 178, 449-473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2020.07.027
• Rafiq, S., & Rahman, M. H. (2020). Healthy air, healthy mom: Experimental evidence from Chinese power plants. Energy Economics, 91, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2020.104899
• Ulubaşoğlu, M. A., Rahman, M. H., Önder, Y. K., Chen, Y., & Rajabifard, A. (2019). Floods, Bushfires and Sectoral Economic Output in Australia, 1978–2014. Economic Record, 95(308), https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4932.12446
• Rahman, M. H. (2018). Earthquakes don’t kill, built environment does: Evidence from cross-country data. Economic Modelling, 70, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2017.08.027
• Rahman, M., Anbarci, N., Bhattacharya, P., & Ulubaşoğlu, M. (2017). Can extreme rainfall trigger democratic change? The role of flood-induced corruption. Public Choice, 171(3-4), 331-358. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-017-0440-1
• Chun, N., Hasan, R., Rahman, M. H., & Ulubaşoğlu, M. A. (2016). The role of middle class in democratic diffusion. International Review of Economics and Finance, 42, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iref.2015.10.021
• Chun, N., Hasan, R., Rahman, M. H., & Ulubaşoğlu, M. A. (2016). The Role of Middle Class in Economic Development: What Do Cross-Country Data Show?. Review of Development Economics, 21(2), https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12265

Report

• Rowley, S., Brierty, R., Perugia, F., Rahman, H., Singh, R., Swapan, M., & Taylor, L. (2023). The new normal: changed patterns of dwelling demand and supply