Bilal Zia is a Senior Economist in the Finance and Private Sector Development Team of the Development Economics Research Group. He joined in July 2006 after completing his Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research is focused on financial development at the household, firm, and bank levels, and his work has appeared in top academic journals such as the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and the Review of Financial Studies.

He uses both experimental and non-experimental methods and some of his recent work includes rigorous impact evaluations of financial literacy programs, testing innovative methods to improve financial access for households and firms, and applying insights from behavioral economics to development finance. He holds an M.C.P. and a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT, and a B.Sc. (Hons.) from the London School of Economics.