{"id":12,"date":"2012-10-04T07:42:54","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T07:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benbansal.me\/?page_id=12"},"modified":"2026-05-08T00:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:10:21","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/?page_id=12","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-test-render-count=\"1\">\n<div class=\"group\">\n<div class=\"contents\">\n<div class=\"group relative relative pb-3\" data-is-streaming=\"false\">\n<div class=\"font-claude-response relative leading-[1.65rem] [&amp;_pre&gt;div]:bg-bg-000\/50 [&amp;_pre&gt;div]:border-0.5 [&amp;_pre&gt;div]:border-border-400 [&amp;_.ignore-pre-bg&gt;div]:bg-transparent [&amp;_.standard-markdown_:is(p,blockquote,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6)]:pl-2 [&amp;_.standard-markdown_:is(p,blockquote,ul,ol,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6)]:pr-8 [&amp;_.progressive-markdown_:is(p,blockquote,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6)]:pl-2 [&amp;_.progressive-markdown_:is(p,blockquote,ul,ol,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6)]:pr-8\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"standard-markdown grid-cols-1 grid [&amp;_&gt;_*]:min-w-0 gap-3 standard-markdown\">\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">I am a development economist trained at SOAS, Cambridge, and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. I have worked for international financial institutions including the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, EBRD, and UN DESA, as well as for Royal Dutch Shell, and have advised emerging market investors through a boutique investment advisory practice. I have taught political economy, development, and cities at Temple University Japan, and have published on Tokyo&#8217;s urban economic history and Yangon&#8217;s architecture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p data-start=\"1531\" data-end=\"1835\">This blog has been my public notebook for 14 years, evolving with my interests and projects. You can explore my professional work on <a class=\"decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bbansal\" rel=\"noopener\" data-start=\"1664\" data-end=\"1677\">LinkedIn<\/a>, my publications on <a class=\"decorated-link\" href=\"#\" rel=\"noopener\" data-start=\"1698\" data-end=\"1715\">ResearchGate<\/a>, or follow shorter updates on <a class=\"decorated-link\" href=\"#\" rel=\"noopener\" data-start=\"1746\" data-end=\"1758\">Bluesky<\/a>. Please feel free to get in touch \u2014 my email is \u201chello\u201d at my domain name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am a development economist trained at SOAS, Cambridge, and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. I have worked for international financial institutions including the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, EBRD, and UN DESA, as well as &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/?page_id=12\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":78,"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5895,"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12\/revisions\/5895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}