In November 2022, UW Economics Professor Fahad Khalil welcomed Economics Nobel Laureate 2014 Jean Tirole to his alma mater, Dhaka University in Bangladesh. As part of the Centenary Celebrations of Dhaka University, Jean Tirole was invited to give the 2022 Commencement Speech. Fahad helped coordinate the visit.
Bangladesh is a major exporter of readymade garments, and Jean Tirole visited a large readymade garments factory outside Dhaka. Along with the impressive sight of predominantly female employees working in row after row of sewing machines, the factory visit included a briefing on the readymade garments sector. A highlight of the briefing included the findings of a paper by UW Economics Professor Rachel Heath. You can read the full paper with A. Mushfiq Mobarak, "Manufacturing Growth and the Lives of Bangladeshi Women," published in the Journal of Development Economics (2015)., pp 1-15