Almas Heshmati is a Visiting Professor of Economics at the University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He was a professor of Economics at Jönköping University, Sogang University, Korea University, Seoul National University, University of Kurdistan at Hawler, RATIO Institute, Stockholm, and MTT Agrifood Research, Helsinki, and a Research Fellow at the World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER), The United Nations University, Helsinki during 2001-2004. From 1998 until 2001, he was an Associate Professor of Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics.

He has a Ph.D. degree from the University of Gothenburg (1994), where he held a Senior Researcher position until 1998. His research interests include agricultural economics, development economics, energy economics, industrial organization, labor, globalization, income distribution, productivity, efficiency, growth, health care, and capital structure. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Conference on Panel Data. His publications include papers in the Agricultural Economics, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Applied Economics, Applied Financial Economics, Econometric Reviews, Economic Theory, Empirical Economics, European Journal of Operational Research, Global Economy Journal, International Journal of Industrial Organization, International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Applied Econometrics, Journal of Economic Surveys, Journal of Productivity Analysis, Journal of the World System Research, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, and Structural Change and Economic Dynamics.

He joined IZA as a Research Fellow in April 2000.