Shahrukh Wani

Economist

Shahrukh Wani is an economist at the International Growth Centre based at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. 

He works with researchers and government agencies across Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia to support policy decisions on taxation, public procurement, housing, and public-sector management with a cross-cutting focus on cities. His work has included engagements with national and municipal policymakers in Afghanistan, Uganda, Pakistan, and Zambia. 

Shahrukh regularly writes and contributes to policy-focused papers, opinion pieces, and reports on economic and urban development, including co-authoring the United Nation’s 2022 World Cities Report.

A Pakistani citizen, he was born and raised in Rawalpindi before studying at the London School of Economics. He has lived in London since.

He is fluent in Urdu and English.

Twitter: @ShahrukhWani / Email: s.rukh@lse.ac.uk.

Highlights

(L>R) with the President of Zambia HE Hakainde Hichilema at the London School of Economics, Nov 2021; Speaking at Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue on property taxation, 2020; Moderating a panel at the Challenges of Government Conference at the University of Oxford, 2019. Photo (c) John Cairns

Policy Publications:

  1. “Zambia’s Constituency Development Fund: Policy Considerations” International Growth Centre. (with with Katherine Casey, Andres Felipe Rodriguez, and Camilla Sacchetto)
  2. “COVID-19 and taxes: Policies for the post-pandemic recovery.” International Growth Centre (with Anders Jensen, Nick Wilkinson, Moussa Saab, Oliver Harman, and Farria Naeem)
  3. “Designed to succeed: Building authorising environments for fast-growing cities.” International Growth Centre. (with Paul Collier, Edward Glaeser, Tony Venables, and Astrid Haas)
  4. “Informal transport reform in Kampala.” International Growth Centre. (with Priya Manwaring).
  5. “Urban property taxes in Pakistan’s Punjab.” International Growth Centre. (with Hina Shaikh and Oliver Harman).
  6. “Making policy decisions under uncertainty.” International Growth Centre. (with Paul Collier and Vicky Delbridge).
  7. “The role of public-private partnerships for urban service delivery.” International Growth Centre. (with Priya Manwaring).
  8. “Informal settlements in Lusaka.” International Growth Centre. (with Dennis Chiwele, Patrick Lamson-Hall)

Commentary:

Panels, Lectures and Presentations

On December 10, 2021, the Oxford Urbanists hosted a panel event on contemporary urban-development dynamics in Afghanistan. Shahrukh Wani moderated the discussion. In conversation were Sana Safi, a journalist with the BBC World Service, Srinivasa Popuri of UN-Habitat, and Erol Yayboke of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

In Media

Podcasts