Robin Burgess is Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics. His areas of research interest include development economics, public economics, political economy, labor economics and environmental economics. He has published on a variety of topics - natural disasters, mass media, rural banks, land reform, labor regulation, industrial policy, taxation, poverty and growth. He has a particular interest in studying whether and how productive opportunities can be extended to poor households and is involved in evaluating BRAC programs which try to promote entrepreneurship amongst the ultra poor both in Bangladesh and sub-Saharan Africa.