Asif Islam is a Senior Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist for the Middle East and North Africa Region. He has written on a wide range of issues related to economic development with a focus on the private sector and government interventions. He has published in peer-reviewed journals on several dimensions of the private sector including entrepreneurship, technology, informality, and gender. He has also published on a wide range of topics including fiscal policy, environment, and agriculture. He co-authored several reports including the World Development Report (2019) - The Changing Nature of Work, What's Holding Back the Private Sector in MENA? as well as Lessons from the Enterprise Survey, and Uncharted Waters: The New Economics of Water Scarcity and Variability. He holds a PhD in Applied Economics from the University of Maryland-College Park, and a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Computer Science from Macalester College.