Salma AhmedDeakin University; Victoria University; Melbourne Campus
Salma Ahmed
Doctor of Philosophy
About
30
Publications
11,934
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278
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Salma Ahmed, a research fellow at ADI and VISES, is a development economist whose work focuses on gender inequality, child labour, education, health and fertility in developing countries. She completed her PhD. at the Department of Economics at Monash University in 2013.
Additional affiliations
June 2017 - present
February 2016 - present
October 2012 - December 2015
Education
February 2009 - July 2012
March 2006 - August 2008
Publications
Publications (30)
Using data from South Asia for the period 1990–2017, this paper examines the effectiveness of the health sector aid on infant mortality, neonatal mortality, child mortality and a new composite index of child mortality. The investigation of South Asia is interesting not only because it accounts for roughly one quarter of the world population and has...
The growth of Chinese global official finance has stimulated great interest among foreign aid advocates. Yet, until now, a lack of systematic data reporting has limited our understanding of Chinese official finance. Against this background, this article describes and compares two internationally comparable Chinese datasets from 2005 to 2014: AidDat...
Using data from South Asia for the period 1990-2017, this paper examines the effectiveness of the health sector aid on infant mortality, neonatal mortality, child mortality, and a new composite index of child mortality. Applying the instrumental variables method to account for the endogeneity of aid, we find that health-focused aid assists in impro...
This research report explores China’s development financing’s nature, scope, and impact.
This paper empirically examines the decisions of individuals to enrol in a course of tertiary education in Bangladesh, focussing on the period 1999 to 2009. Of particular interest is whether the wage premium―the gap in wage earnings between tertiary and secondary school graduates―is associated with decisions to enrol in tertiary education. The anal...
Analysing macro-panel data from 18 African and Asian countries over the period 1995-2016, this article investigates the effects of the level and duration of paid maternity leave on three dimensions of human development: fertility, female formal-sector employment and infant mortality. There is some evidence that, on average, extending the duration o...
Abortion is a common means of reproductive control. Having the choice to terminate a pregnancy gives women agency over when and if they are ready to give birth.
Available link:
https://disruptr.deakin.edu.au/health/abortion-rates-dont-go-down-when-the-procedure-is-criminalised/
This paper empirically examines the decisions of individuals to enrol in a course of tertiary education in Bangladesh, focussing on the period 1999 to 2009. Of particular interest is whether the wage premium―the gap in wage earnings between tertiary and secondary school graduates―is associated with decisions to enrol in tertiary education. The anal...
Using historical data from Nepal - one of the largest recipients of aid among South Asian countries - this paper investigates the link between foreign aid, growth, remittances and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The investigation of this issue is particularly important, as policy makers in the least developed countries are increasingly concerned ab...
Blog: http://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/human-development/child-health-fertility-and-sex-ratio-india-vs-bangaldesh.html
Despite having lower per capita income, Bangladesh has superior performance over India on key welfare indicators. This article compares the experiences of India and Bangladesh on several key indicators during 1990-2015 using tw...
Using historical data from Nepal-one of the highest recipients of aid among the South Asian countries-this paper investigates the link between foreign aid, growth, remittances and carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions. The investigation of this issue is particularly important, as policy makers in the least developed countries (LDCs) are increasingly conc...
The paper investigates the determinants of geographical allocation of Australian bilateral aid to developing countries since 1950s. The project was supported through funding from Australian Research Council Grant.
This study on the Young Lives Survey data from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh provides evidence that uterus shocks experienced by the child in her mother's womb have an adverse effect on her health. This study distinguishes between different types of uterus shocks and reports that such shocks, especially, multiple uterus shocks, experienced by...
With the passage of the Labour Act of 2006, Bangladesh outperforms India and other South Asian countries in paid maternity leave (ML) provisions. This record improvement in coverage to 24 weeks makes it quite unique among developing countries. Nearly all countries in South Asia have provided at least 12-weeks of paid maternity leave for decades. A...
As the MDGs gave way to the SDGs, considerable attention has been focused on movements in key welfare indicators for women and children in the past decade. In this context, this column compares India with Bangladesh, and also looks at the relative performance of Indian states. It provides evidence on the strength of association between the quality...
This study investigates the principal determinants of women’s employment in the manufacturing sector of Bangladesh using a firm-level panel data from the World Bank’s ‘Enterprise Survey’ for the years 2007, 2011 and 2013. The paper sheds light on the demand-side factors, mainly firm-level characteristics, which also influence this decision. The res...
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the principal determinants of women’s employment in the manufacturing sector of Bangladesh using a firm-level panel data from the World Bank’s “Enterprise Survey” for the years 2007, 2011 and 2013. The paper sheds light on the demand-side factors, mainly firm-level characteristics, which also in...
The 2006 Labour Act of Bangladesh increased maternity leave from 12 to 16 weeks, limited eligibility to first two children and prohibited women’s night-work. Differential coverage across industrial sectors, occupation and demographic groups provides an opportunity to identify the effects of both policies in a single natural experiment framework. Ex...
The article is updated on 7 August 2015.
This paper investigates changes in the gender wage gap in Bangladesh over the period 1999–2009. The gap in average wages between men and women decreased by 31% over this period. This paper shows that a key driver of this change was an improvement in female educational qualifications. It also demonstrates that the gender wage gap across the wage dis...
This article empirically investigates the gender wage gap in Bangladesh during the period 2005–2009. Applying unconditional quantile regression models, the article demonstrates that women are paid less than men throughout the wage distribution and the gap is higher at the lower end of the distribution. Discrimination against women is the primary de...
Background: The paper examines the effect of child labour on child health outcomes in Bangladesh, advancing the methodologies and the results of papers published in different journals. Objective: We examine the effect of child labour on child health outcomes. Methods: We used Bangladesh National Child Labour Survey data for 2002-2003 for our analys...
Summary This study provides evidence on the principal determinants of pregnancy and abortion in India using a large country-wide district-level data set (DLHS 2007). The paper provides an economic framework for the analysis of pregnancy and abortion. The study distinguishes between induced and spontaneous abortion and compares the effects of their...
This paper decomposes the gender wage gap along the entire wage distribution into an endowment effect and a discrimination effect, taking into account possible selection into full-time employment. Applying a new decomposition approach to the Bangladesh Labour Force Survey (LFS) data we find that women are paid less than men every where on the wage...
Female wages in Bangladesh are significantly lower than male wages. This paper quantifies the extent to which discrimination can explain this gender wage gap across the rural and urban labour markets of Bangladesh, using unit record data from the 1999-2000 Labour Force Survey. The gender wage differential is decomposed into a component that can be...
The capital market is visualised as a tool for economic development through mobilisation of scattered resources and their allocation to appropriate areas. The liquidity, solvency and efficiency of the economic system of a country can be better accomplished by capital market, when the banks and financial institutions of the country are reluctant to...
Projects
Projects (3)
The empirical evidence on the effects of sector-specific aid on development outcomes is limited. Theoretically, one would expect a positive link as foreign aid is likely to improve development outcomes both directly and indirectly. By relaxing budget constraints in developing countries, foreign aid also enables governments to increase spending on health, education, and infrastructure projects, which may improve access to clean water, education and health services to millions of poor.
Female wages in Bangladesh are significantly lower than male wages. This project quantifies this gender wage gap across the wage distribution, using unit record data from the 1999–2013 Bangladesh Labour Force Survey.
