Hidden Potential: Rethinking Informality in South Asia

Luis Felipe López-Calva is the Global Director for the World Bank Group’s Poverty and Equity Global Practice (GP) in the Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions (EFI) Vice Presidency. López-Calva has over 30 years of professional experience working with international institutions and advising national governments. He rejoined the World Bank in 2022 from the United Nations Development Programme, where he served as UN Assistant Secretary General and Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean since 2018. In his previous tenure at the World Bank, he held various positions including Practice Manager of the Poverty and Equity GP for Europe and Central Asia, Co-Director of the World Development Report 2017 on Governance and the Law, Lead Economist and Regional Poverty Advisor in the Poverty and Equity GP for Europe and Central Asia, and Lead Economist in the Poverty, Equity and Gender Unit in the PREM Directorate for Latin America and the Caribbean. He has led lending projects in policy operations for 1.1 billion USD. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Boston University, as well as a Master’s and a PhD in Economics from Cornell University.

Mary Hallward-Driemeier is a Senior Economic Adviser in the Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation (FCI) Global Practice at the World Bank Group, overseeing the analytical agenda on issues of private sector development, technology and productivity.  A Canadian national, she joined the World Bank in 1997 as a Young Professional. She has published widely on entrepreneurship, firm productivity and firm dynamics, the impact of financial crises, and women's economic empowerment.  She has served as an advisor to the Chief Economist of the World Bank, a co-manager of the Jobs Group, the Deputy Director for the World Development Report 2005:  A Better Investment Climate for Everyone and is a founding member of the Microeconomics of Growth Network. Her latest book is Trouble in the Making? The Future of Manufacturing-Led Development. Mary received her M.Sc. in Development Economics from Oxford University where she was a Rhodes Scholar and her Ph.D. in Economics from M.I.T.

Siddharth Sharma is a Lead Economist in the World Bank’s Office of the Chief Economist for South Asia. His research interests include productivity, innovation, and labor markets, particularly  how firms are affected by regulatory policies and new technologies. He is currently working on environmental issues in South Asia. He has co-authored several World Bank reports, and was a core team member of the World Development Report 2017.  Siddharth has a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University.

Martha Chen is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, an Affiliated Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and International Coordinator of the global research-policy-action network Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO). An experienced development practitioner and scholar, her areas of specialization are employment, gender, and poverty with a focus on the working poor in the informal economy. Before joining Harvard in 1987, she had two decades of resident experience in Bangladesh working with BRAC (now the world's largest non-governmental organization) and in India, where she served as field representative of Oxfam America for India and Bangladesh. Marty received a PhD in South Asia Regional Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author and editor of numerous books including Bridging Perspectives:  Labour, Informal Employment, and Poverty (co-edited with Namrata Bali and Ravi Kanbur), The Progress of the World’s Women 2005: Women, Work and Poverty (co-authored with Joann Vanek, Francie Lund, James Heintz, Renana Jhabvala and Chris Bonner), Mainstreaming Informal Employment and Gender in Poverty Reduction (co-authored with Marilyn Carr and Joann Vanek), Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture (co-authored with Joann Vanek and others) and Perpetual Mourning: Widowhood in Rural India. Dr. Chen was awarded a high civilian award, the Padma Shri, by the Government of India in April 2011; and a Friends of Bangladesh Liberation War award by the Government of Bangladesh in December 2012.

Pierre Bachas is an Economist in the Macroeconomics and Growth Team in the Development Research Group. His research focuses on public finance in developing countries. In particular, on optimal tax design and challenges to tax collection faced by low- and middle-income countries as a result of tax evasion, informality and differences in economic structure. Prior to joining the bank he was a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University. He holds a Bachelor and Masters in economics from the LSE and a PhD in Economics from UC Berkeley.

Martin Kanz is a Senior Economist in the Development Research Group at the World Bank. His research focuses on banking, behavioral economics, and the political economy of the credit market. Martin served as Deputy Director of the World Development Report Finance for an Equitable Recovery and has led numerous impact evaluations on financial sector topics, primarily in India and Southeast Asia. His research has appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Finance, and other leading academic publications. Martin received his A.B. in Economics from Harvard University, his M.Sc. in Development Economics from Oxford, and his Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Roberto N. Fattal Jaef is a Senior Economist in the Macroeconomics and Growth team of the World Bank’s Research Department. His research interests cover various areas of macroeconomics, with a special emphasis on economic growth. Current and recent research topics include: 1) understanding the role of market distortions for firm level behavior, entrepreneurship, and long run macroeconomic outcomes; 2) investigating the micro and macro patterns of transition growth paths, 3) studying the role of credit for the business cycle. Prior to joining the Bank, he worked at the International Monetary Fund’s Research department (2011-2013). He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from UCLA.