Muhammad Bashir was born in a small village in rural Punjab and was the first in his family to attend school. He is interested in understanding informality and its relationship with government capacity and development outcomes. He loves to collaborate on projects involving big data and machine learning and its applications in development and public economics. Muhammad completed his undergraduate in Economics and Mathematics from SBASSE, LUMS, Lahore on a National Outreach Program Scholarship. He then completed a Master’s in Economics from the University of Manchester. At Manchester, he was mentored by Dr. Mazhar Waseem, who has had a great influence on Muhammad’s research interests and professional development.