Ali Hasanain
Department of Economics
Lahore University of
Management Sciences
Lahore 54792, Pakistan
hasanain@lums.edu.pk
+92 (42) 3560 8464
Lahore University of
Management Sciences
Lahore 54792, Pakistan
hasanain@lums.edu.pk
+92 (42) 3560 8464
I am an Associate Professor of Economics at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). My research focuses on how economic governance can be improved through reform initiatives, particularly through technological progress.
I currently serve on the boards of the National School of Public Policy and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited. From 2022 to 2024 I was a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. I received my Ph.D. from George Mason University in 2010, and held post-doctoral fellowships at Oxford and Princeton, where I was selected as a Global Leaders Fellow.
research
Callen, M., Gulzar, S., Hasanain, A., Khan, M.Y. & Rezaee, A. "Personalities and Public Sector Performance: Evidence from a Health Experiment in Pakistan," Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2025, 73(3), 1439–1474. [pdf] [journal]
Hasanain, A., Khan, M.Y. & Rezaee, A. "No Bulls: Experimental Evidence on the Impact of Veterinarian Ratings in Pakistan," Journal of Development Economics, 2023, 161, 102999. [pdf] [journal]
Callen, M., Gulzar, S., Hasanain, A., Khan, M.Y. & Rezaee, A. "The Political Economy of Public Sector Absence," Journal of Public Economics, 2023, 218, 104787. [pdf] [journal]
Blair, G., Weinstein, J.M., Christia, F., Arias, E., ... & Hasanain, A., et al. "Community Policing Does Not Build Citizen Trust in Police or Reduce Crime in the Global South," Science, 2021, 374(6571), eabd3446. [pdf] [journal]
Solís Arce, J.S., Warren, S.S., ... & Hasanain, A., et al. "COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Hesitancy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries," Nature Medicine, 2021, 27(8), 1385–1394. [pdf] [journal]
Callen, M., Gulzar, S., Hasanain, A., Khan, M.Y. & Rezaee, A. "Data and Policy Decisions: Experimental Evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Development Economics, 2020, 146, 102523. [pdf] [journal]
Batrancea, L., Nichita, A., Olsen, J., Kogler, C., Kirchler, E., Hoelzl, E., ... & Hasanain, A., et al. "Trust and Power as Determinants of Tax Compliance Across 44 Nations," Journal of Economic Psychology, 2019, 74, 102191. [pdf] [journal]
Bursztyn, L., Callen, M., Ferman, B., Gulzar, S., Hasanain, A. & Yuchtman, N. "Political Identity: Experimental Evidence on Anti-Americanism in Pakistan," Journal of the European Economic Association, 2019, 18(5), 2532–2560. [pdf] [journal]
Hasanain, A. "Governing Through the Phone: How Policy-Makers Can Leverage ICT to Improve Governance Outcomes." [pdf]
Callen, M., Gulzar, S., Hasanain, A., Khan, A.R., Khan, Y. & Mehmood, M.Z. "Improving Public Health Delivery in Punjab, Pakistan: Issues and Opportunities," Lahore Journal of Economics, 2013, 18 (Special Edition), 249–269. [pdf]
Hasanain, A., Ahmad, S., Mehmood, M.Z., Majeed, S. & Zinabou, G. "Irrigation and Water Use Efficiency in South Asia," Policy research paper: Supporting research to inform agricultural policy in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. [pdf]
Hasanain, A. & Shah, S.A.A. "Investigating the Proposed Changes to Pakistan's Corporate Bankruptcy Code," CREB Working Paper. [pdf]
Callen, M. & Hasanain, A. "The Punjab Model of Proactive Governance: Empowering Citizens Through Information Communication Technology." [working paper] [pdf]
works in progress
"How to Use AI for Economics: a Course in Claude Code"
"The Chain of Monopolies: Vertical Integration and Market Concentration in the Supply Chain of AI Compute"
"Vibe-Governing: How Governance Must Develop to Accommodate Incomplete Oversight in the Age of Artificial Intelligence"
Nakamura, S., Hasanain, A. & Tariq, A. "Spillovers and Adjustments under Information and Search Frictions in a Developing Online Marketplace"
policy & public service
current
Member, Board of Directors, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, 2026–
Member, Board of Governors, Pakistan National School of Public Policy, 2024–
previous
Speaker, Workshop in Artificial Intelligence, Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 2025
Nonresident Senior Fellow, South Asia Center, Atlantic Council, Washington D.C., 2022–2024
Department Chair, Economics, Lahore University of Management Sciences, 2019–2022
Member, Resource Mobilization Committee, Government of Punjab, 2021–2023
Speaker, Margalla Dialogue, Islamabad Policy Research Institute, 2022
Speaker, National Management College, National School of Public Policy, 2020, 2021
Trainer, Evidence-Based Program Design, Center for Economics Research in Pakistan, 2019–2021
Judge, Economy Module, National Security and War Course, National Defense University, 2019–2021
Director, LUMS–World Bank "Pakistan at One Hundred" Collaboration, 2016–2019
Consultant, Center for Global Development (CGD), 2017. Leveraging identification for service delivery.
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, 2015–2016
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Global Economic Governance Programme, University of Oxford, 2014–2015
Consultant, Planning & Development Department, Government of Punjab / IGC, 2014. Strategic Plan for Punjab Agriculture Sector.
Member, Punjab Economic Advisory Committee, Planning & Development Department, Government of Punjab, 2014. Authored the health and agriculture chapters for the Punjab Growth Strategy 2018.
South Asia Team Leader, Global Development Network (GDN), 2011–2012. Agricultural policy research in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Consultant, Punjab Citizen Feedback Model, Government of Punjab, 2010. Third-party qualitative evaluation.
teaching
All courses at LUMS, undergraduate level. Course outlines linked where available.
Experiments in Economics (co-taught with Michael Callen)
writing
April 2026
Interactive data visualizations and critical commentary on Pakistan's exposure to commodity shocks, debt sustainability, and growth model failures. Based on Murtaza Syed's PBC presentation.
media & commentary
Personality Tests for Public Health Workers in Pakistan, The Guardian
For interviews or commentary, please email me.