Nasir Hossein Dad was recently invited to present at the Midwest Macro Meeting hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
“It was an honour to be invited to present at the meetings,” Hossein Dad said. “As someone early in my career, it was exciting to share my work with leading scholars in the field.”
Hossein Dad’s research examines how policies and institutional frameworks influence whether firms prioritize innovation or policy influence. His presentation explored the strategic choices firms make between investing in research and development and engaging in corporate lobbying, and what those choices mean for productivity and long-term economic growth. He showcased how firm-level data and a unified analytical framework can measure the effects of corporate lobbying on innovation and economic growth.
“Many economies are experiencing a productivity slowdown,” he said. “Designing policies that encourage innovation without creating new distortions is a priority for policymakers.”
The conference provided an opportunity for critical feedback from fellow researchers and central bank economists, helping to refine both the data and the theoretical framework behind his work.
“I hope the audience came away with the understanding that lobbying is not inherently ‘good’ or ‘bad,’” he said. “What matters is how it interacts with firms’ innovation decisions.”