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My major research interest is rural institutions and economic development in Asia. In an abstract sense, rural institutions mean the various socio-economic and cultural organizations and systems that determine how factors of production (land, labor, and capital) are combined and function in a market. The most fundamental question is to inquire into the relationship between such rural institutions and economic development. My research areas are mainly Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. The research methodology is to collect primary data by doing intensive fieldwork in a limited number of villages and to make socio-economic analysis.

My major research topics in recent years are 1) the “Green Revolution” and its impact on the rural poor in Bangladesh; 2) efficiency and income distribution effects of groundwater market (by tube wells) in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India; 3) rura linformal credit markets and the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh; 4) the growing village saving groups in Vientiane Municipality, Laos; 5) agricultural development and the rural landless in Myanmar; 6) the transformation of the tank irrigation system and rural economies in Tamil Nadu, India.