Imran Rasul is Professor of Economics at University College London, co-director of the Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and research co-director of the Entrepreneurship Research Group of the International Growth Centre. His research interests include labor, development and public economics and his work has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Econometrica and the Review of Economic Studies. He is currently managing editor of the Journal of the European Economic Association, and he been a co-editor and director of the Review of Economic Studies (2009-17). He was awarded the 2007 IZA Young Economist Prize, the 2008 CESIfo Distinguished Affiliate Award, an ERC-starter grant in 2012, and a British Academy Mid-career Fellowship in 2018.
Education
PhD Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2003
MPhil Economics, University of Oxford, 1997
BSc Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science, 1995
There is growing interest in how behavioural economics can be used effectively by policymakers. This observation considers some of the broad implications of behavioural insights for tax and benefit policy, drawing on new IFS research which explores the issues for particular aspects of policy in this area.
We evaluate the impact on hospital admissions related to illicit drug use, caused by a policing experiment that depenalized the possession of small quantities of cannabis in the London borough of Lambeth.
Joint publication with A.Q. Khan, S. Gulzar, D. Hollywood, H. Iqbal, and A. A. Lodhi, prepared for and presented to DfID Pakistan and the Livestock Department, Government of Punjab, Pakistan
The authors present evidence from a natural field experiment designed to shed light on the efficacy of fundraising schemes in which donations are matched by a lead donor.
In large-scale fundraising campaigns based on direct mailings, typically less than 5% of individuals donate to the charitable cause. The authors present evidence from two field experiments designed to measure the existence of transaction costs that inhibit charitable giving in such fundraising campaigns, and shed light on the nature of such transaction costs.
