Dr Shabbir Ahmad
Senior Research Fellow Agribusiness & Economics
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation
Researcher biography
Dr Shabbir Ahmad is an Economist with expertise in applied econometrics, productivity, financial regulation, educational inequalities, environment, and sustainability. He has an extensive research experience in impact evaluation and survey development. He has won many international grants and worked in many Asian and African countries, where he proposed novel methods to tackle rural poverty and economic development issues.
Shabbir has also developed benchmarking techniques to measure the performance of decision-making units, which have been applied to evaluate the performance of different sectors of economy. Shabbir's recent research focuses on education impact evaluation of the education and social services sector. Recently, he has accomplished Try, Test, and Lean (TTL) project where he was involved in evaluating the impact of policy interventions by using large, administered data to analyse the social and economic outcomes.
Shabbir Ahmad completed his PhD in Econometrics at the UQ School of Economics in 2014.
Publications
Book
Steen, John T., Ahmad, Shabbir, Verreynne, Martie-Louise, Battese, George and Burki, Abid (2016). Final Report: Farmers' capabilities, productivity and profitability: a case study of small holders in selected agro zones in Pakistan. Canberra, ACT, Australia: ACIAR.
Book Chapters
Horsley, Julia, Ahmad, Shabbir and Tonts, Matthew (2019). Challenges in measuring the local and regional contributions of mining: lessons from case studies in Rwanda, Zambia, and Ghana. Africa's mineral fortune: the science and politics of mining and sustainable development. (pp. 86-118) edited by Saleem H. Ali, Kathryn Sturman and Nina Collins. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780429467424-8
Ahmad, Shabbir and Ahmad, Shabbir (2007). Analysing and quantifying economic costs and benefits of Pakistan–India trade: A case study of the chemical industry. The challenges and potentials of Pakistan-India trade. (pp. 158-169) edited by Zareen Fatima Naqvi and Philip Schuler. Washington, DC, United States: World Bank.
Journal Articles
Ahmad, Shabbir (2023). Innovation and drivers of productivity: a global analysis of selected critical minerals. Commodities, 2 (4), 417-432. doi: 10.3390/commodities2040024
Weldegiorgis, Scholar Fitsum S., Dietsche, Evelyn, Ahmad, Shabbir, Franks, Daniel M. and Cust, James (2023). Inter‐sectoral economic linkages in the Australian mining industry: analysis using partial hypothetical extraction method. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 68 (1), 206-226. doi: 10.1111/1467-8489.12544
Koomson, Isaac, Orkoh, Emmanuel and Ahmad, Shabbir (2023). Non-farm entrepreneurship, caste, and energy poverty in rural India. Energy Economics, 127 (Part A) 107118, 107118. doi: 10.1016/j.eneco.2023.107118
Shahbaz, Muhammad, Siddiqui, Aaliyah, Ahmad, Shabbir and Jiao, Zhilun (2023). Financial development as a new determinant of energy diversification: the role of natural capital and structural changes in Australia. Energy Economics, 126 106926, 106926. doi: 10.1016/j.eneco.2023.106926
Shahbaz, Muhammad, Sinha, Avik, Ahmad, Shabbir, Jiao, Zhilun and Wang, Zhaohua (2023). Role of foreign direct investment in decomposing of scale and technique effects on China's energy consumption. International Journal of Finance and Economics, 28 (3), 3370-3385. doi: 10.1002/ijfe.2597
Weldegiorgis, Fitsum Semere, Dietsche, Evelyn and Ahmad, Shabbir (2023). Inter-sectoral economic linkages in the mining industries of Botswana and Tanzania: analysis using partial hypothetical extraction method. Resources, 12 (7) 78, 78. doi: 10.3390/resources12070078
Ahmad, Shabbir, Steen, John, Ali, Saleem and Valenta, Rick (2023). Carbon-adjusted efficiency and technology gaps in gold mining. Resources Policy, 81 103327, 1-12. doi: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2023.103327
Weldegiorgis, Fitsum S., Dietsche, Evelyn, Franks, Daniel M., Cust, James and Ahmad, Shabbir (2022). Mining and linkages for economic transformation: revealing multi-stakeholder perspectives through Q-methodology. The Extractive Industries and Society, 12 101174, 1-14. doi: 10.1016/j.exis.2022.101174
Ismail, Andleeb, Ahmad, Shabbir and Khan, Karim (2022). Decomposition of total factor productivity into efficiency components: An empirical analysis of district level school performance. Pakistan Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 10 (2). doi: 10.52131/pjhss.2022.1002.0251
Ahmad, Shabbir, Steen, John, Valenta, Rick and Ali, Saleem (2022). Technology gaps in global gold production: a mine-level carbon dioxide emissions adjusted efficiency analysis. SSRN Electronic Journal, 1-29. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.4090750
Shahbaz, Muhammad, Song, Malin, Ahmad, Shabbir and Vinh Vo, Xuan (2022). Does economic growth stimulate energy consumption? The role of human capital and R&D expenditures in China. Energy Economics, 105 105662, 105662. doi: 10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105662
Hao, Linna, Ahmad, Shabbir, Chang, Hsu-Ling and Umar, Muhammad (2021). Knowledge spill-over and institutional quality role in controlling Dutch disease: A case of BRICS countries. Resources Policy, 72 102114, 1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102114
Su, Chi-Wei, Sun, Tiezhu, Ahmad, Shabbir and Mirza, Nawazish (2021). Does institutional quality and remittances inflow crowd-in private investment to avoid Dutch Disease? A case for emerging seven (E7) economies. Resources Policy, 72 102111, 102111. doi: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102111
Cheng, Ya, Awan, Usama, Ahmad, Shabbir and Tan, Zhixiong (2021). How do technological innovation and fiscal decentralization affect the environment? A story of the fourth industrial revolution and sustainable growth. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 162 120398, 120398. doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120398
Ahmad, Shabbir, Shankar, Sriram, Steen, John, Verreynne, Martie-Louise and Burki, A. A. (2020). Using measures of efficiency for regionally-targeted smallholder policy intervention: The case of Pakistan’s horticulture sector. Land Use Policy, 101 105179, 105179. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.105179
Ahmad, Shabbir (2020). Estimating input-mix efficiency in a parametric framework: application to state-Level agricultural data for the United States. Applied Economics, 52 (36), 1-22. doi: 10.1080/00036846.2020.1726866
Ahmad, Nisar, Naveed, Amjad, Ahmad, Shabbir and Butt, Irfan (2020). Banking sector performance, profitability and efficiency: a citation-based systematic literature review. Economic Surveys, 34 (1) joes.12346, 185-218. doi: 10.1111/joes.12346
Tisdell, Clement, Ahmad, Shabbir, Agha, Nadia, Steen, John and Verreynne, Martie-Louise (2019). Microfinance for wives: fresh insights obtained from a study of poor rural women in Pakistan. Journal of Research in Gender Studies, 10 (1), 9-37. doi: 10.22381/JRGS10120201
Tisdell, Clement and Ahmad, Shabbir (2018). Microfinance: economics and ethics. International Journal of Ethics and Systems, 34 (3) IJOES-02-2018-0028, 372-392. doi: 10.1108/ijoes-02-2018-0028
Ahmad, Shabbir, Ali, Saleem H., Mirza, M. Usman and Lotia, Hina (2017). The limits of water pricing in a developing country metropolis: empirical lessons from an industrial city of Pakistan. Water, 9 (7) 533, 533. doi: 10.3390/w9070533
Noreen, Uzma and Ahmad, Shabbir (2016). Cost efficiency and total factor productivity: an empirical analysis of Pakistan's insurance sector. Lahore Journal of Economics, 21 (1), 123-150. doi: 10.35536/lje.2016.v21.i1.a5
Ahmad, Shabbir and Burki, Abid A. (2015). Banking deregulation and allocative efficiency in Pakistan. Applied Economics, 48 (13), 1182-1196. doi: 10.1080/00036846.2015.1096001
Burki, Abid A. and Ahmad, Shabbir (2011). The impact of bank governance on bank performance in Pakistan. The Lahore Journal of Economics, 16 (Supp. Special Edition), 271-300.
Burki, Abid A. and Ahmad, Shabbir (2010). Bank governance changes in Pakistan: is there a performance effect?. Journal of Economics and Business, 62 (2), 129-146. doi: 10.1016/j.jeconbus.2009.08.002
Conference Papers
Ahmad, Shabbir, Steen, John, ,Ali, Saleem and Zajac, Tomasz (2023). Resource allocation and environmental productivity: evidence from global aluminium smelting. AARES, Christchurch, New Zealand, 7-10 February 2023.
Ahmad, Shabbir, Steen, John, Ali, Saleem and Zajac, Tomasz (2023). Resource allocation and environmental productivity: evidence from global aluminium smelting. Australian Agriculture and Resource Economics Society Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand, 7-10 February 2023.
Ahmad, Shabbir (2022). Complex Ore Bodies socio-economic development, innovation, and productivity issues. Complex Ore Bodies Day, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 29 November 2022.
Ahmad, Shabbir, Steen, John, Valenta, Rick and Ali, Saleem (2022). Technology gaps in gold production: a mine level environmentally adjusted analysis. European Workshop on Efficiency and Productivity Analysis, Porto, Portugal, 27-29 June 2022.
Ahmad, Shabbir and Burki, Abid Aman (2013). Financial deregulation and allocative efficiency in banking. Asia Pacific Conference 2013 (APC 2013), Oita, Japan, 2-3 November 2013.
Ahmad, Shabbir (2011). Impact of Deregulation on Patterns of Allocative Inefficiency in Pakistan’s Banking Sector. 14th International Business Research Conference, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 28-30 April 2011.
Ahmad, Shabbir (2006). Banking risk and efficiency: an evidence from commercial banks of Pakistan. GCBE 2006: 6th Global Conference on Business & Economics, Boston, MA, USA, 15-17 October, 2006. Jama Masjid, Delhi, India: Association for Business and Economics Research (ABER).
Ahmad, Shabbir (2006). Corporate governance and performance of commercial banks in Pakistan. 23èmes journées internationales d’économie monétaire et bancaire, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France, 22-23 June, 2006. Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France: l’Université Charles de Gaulle - Lille 3.
Thesis
Ahmad, Shabbir (2013). Econometric estimation of the components of total factor productivity change. PhD Thesis, School of Economics, The University of Queensland.
Seminar Papers
Ahmad, Shabbir (2022). Complex ore-bodies socioeconomic development, innovation, and productivity issues. Julius Kruttschnitt Minerals Research Centre, Sustainable Minerals Institute, Sustainable Minerals Institute .
Research Reports
Burki, Abid A., Ahmad, Shabbir and Khan, M. Raza Mustafa (2022). Recent trends and a decomposition of district-level crop agriculture productivity in Pakistan. Washington, DC, United States: World Bank.
Baxter, Janeen , Povey, Jenny , Burger, Sarah-Ann , Cook, Stephanie , Tseng, Yi-Ping , Polidano, Cain , Kalb, Guyonne , Mamun, Abdullah , Ahmad, Shabbir , O'Flaherty, Martin , Borland, Jeff , Plage, Stefanie , Bellotti, Melindy , Kennedy, Elizabeth , Tomaszewski, Wojtek and Western, Mark (2021). Try, Test and Learn Evaluation - Final Report. Prepared for Department of Social Service. Institute for Social Science Research - Publications Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland, Institute for Social Science Research.
Reddel, Tim, Verstege, Emily, Dave Porter, Charles-Edwards, Elin, Kubler, Matthias, Ahmad, Shabbir, Lam, Jack and Fullerton, Ken (2021). COVID-19 Residential Tenancies Response – Post Implementation Review. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Institute for Social Science Research.
Sisira Jayasuriya, Hayat Khan, Jeff LaFrance , Thilak Mallawaarachchi , Jikun Huang, Muhammad Qasim, Nauman Ejaz, Arif Nadeem, Abdul Ghafoor, Tariq Ali, Anwar Shah, Zarmeen Hasan , Aneela Afzal, Waqas Farooq, Ummul Ruthbah, Tehmina Mangan and Shabbir Ahmad (2021). Policy and Institutional Reforms to Improve Horticultural Markets in Pakistan. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research.
Ahmad, Shabbir, Steen, John and Tisdell, Clement (2018). Creating wealth in smallholders' farms in Pakistan through efficient credit systems. Brisbane, Australia: UQ Business School.
Working Papers
Khezr, Peyman and Ahmad, Shabbir (2018). Anchoring in the housing market: evidence from Sydney. Working paper series. 596. School of Economics, The University of Queensland.
Ahmad, Shabbir, Shankar, Sriram, Steen, John, Verrynne, Martie-Louise and Burki, Abid Aman (2018). What drives smallholders' productivity in Pakistan's horticultural sector?. Discussion Papers Series. 596. School of Economics, The University of Queensland Australia.
Ahmad, Shabbir (2017). Estimating input-mix efficiency in a parametric framework: application to state-level agricultural data for the United States. Economic Theory, Applications and Issues Working Paper Series. 78. School of Economics, The University of Queensland.
Tisdell, Clem and Ahmad, Shabbir (2017). Microfinancing in developing countries: an assessment taking particular account of the views of Becker and Posner. Working Papers on Social Economics, Policy and Development. 64. School of Economics, The University of Queensland.
Tisdell, Clem , Ahmad, Shabbir , Nadia, Agha , Steen, John and Verreynne, Martie-Louise (2017). Loans, Wealth Creation and the Socioeconomic Situation of Women in the Taluka Area of the Khairpur District, Sindh, Pakistan: A Study Based on Interviews with Female Focal Groups. Social Economics, Policy and Development. 62. School of Economics, University of Queensland.
Ahmad, Shabbir and Burki, Abid A. (2014). Banking Deregulation and Allocative Efficiency in Pakistan. LUMS Working Paper Series. 14-11. School of Economics, LAhore University of Management Sciences.
Burki, Abid A. and Ahmad, Shabbir (2008). Corporate governance changes in Pakistan’s banking sector: Is there a performance effect?. CMER Working Paper. 07-59. Centre for Management and Economic Research (CMER), Lahore University of Management Sciences.
Newspaper Articles
Ahmad, Shabbir (2014, 09 24). China's war on pollution could leave Aussie coal out in the cold. The Conversation