Working Paper

A Small Club: Distribution, Power and Networks in Financial Markets of Pakistan

“For all practical purposes, the 22 families had preempted most investment permits, import licenses, foreign credits and government patronage because they controlled or influenced most of the decision-making forums handing out such permissions. They had virtually established a stranglehold on the system and were in a position to keep out any new entrepreneurs. The 22 …

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Estimating the Footprint of Government on the Economy

Government’s footprint on the economy in Pakistan is more than what annual general government spending (22 percent of GDP) suggests. In addition to spending; about 200 State Owned Entities, SROs culture and cumbersome business regulations combine towards a footprint of the government amounting to approximately 67 percent on Pakistan’s Economy.

Developing Research and a Research Culture: Results from a Pilot Project in Pakistan

This paper argues that successful public policy requires engaged research developing ideas and evidence from diverse vantage points. Pakistan’s social science research remains fragmented, under-resourced and dependent on external agendas. We describe a five-year pilot programme to enhance Pakistan’s research culture. Seventy-two crowd-sourced and competitively-selected projects at 46 geographically dispersed institutions were supported. Provincial universities …

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Construction without Real Estate Development

Real estate development in Pakistan suffers from a bad reputation, both in policy circles, and in the public. Detractors frequently claim that investing in real estate is unproductive and should be discouraged. Officials often put forward unsubstantiated claims that the real estate business is riddled with illegal activity of all sorts. However, when one looks …

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Increasing Revenue for Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad

Devolution in Pakistan is an evolving subject. Even as we speak fresh local government law is being debated and developed for legislation sometime this year. Devolution in Pakistan is moving in the direction of the expectations for city management in the rest of the world (see Box1). The debate on local government is sporadic but …

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Macroeconomic Research and Policy Making: Processes and Agenda

It is indeed an honour to present the Mahbub ul Haq Memorial lecture this year at the PSDE. Dr Haq was the single most important economist that Pakistan has produced. He laid the groundwork for the development planning as well as affected many a policy debate in the international circles the most memorable of which …

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Flawed Urban Development Policies in Pakistan

History and civilisation move in cities. All major scientific, social, political, economic and technological innovations have happened in human agglomerations known as cities. Great civilisations and empires have been developed around cities. It is not accidental that the dominant empire of any time had the most important, creative and fascinating cities of the time. World …

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Entrepreneurship in Pakistan

Entrepreneurship is viewed by economists to be a combination of innovation and risk taking. When such activity thrives, high growth rates are achieved as well as opportunities offered to all segments of society, including the poor. The latter benefit form growth and employment as well as through opportunities for entrepreneurship. In Pakistan innovation and risk …

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Impact of Export Subsidies on Pakistan’s Exports

Throughout Pakistan’s history, policy has sought to promote exports through government support and incentives. The government machinery is geared to export promotion especially through direct and indirect subsidies. Surprisingly, these policies have been continued without serious examination. This paper makes a first attempt to evaluate these policies by estimating the impact of two such schemes—export …

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Why Civil Service Reforms Do Not Work

Public sector reform (PSR) efforts in developing countries have been less than successful in the past. Motivated by budgetary considerations, they have focused on downsizing and procedural changes without radically altering the outmoded incentive system, which, in many countries, is now characterised by declining real wages, wage compression, and a non-merit promotion and reward system. …

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A Small Club: Distribution, Power and Networks in Financial Markets of Pakistan

Estimating the Footprint of Government on the Economy

Construction without Real Estate Development

Increasing Revenue for Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad

Macroeconomic Research and Policy Making: Processes and Agenda

Flawed Urban Development Policies in Pakistan

Entrepreneurship in Pakistan

Impact of Export Subsidies on Pakistan’s Exports

Why Civil Service Reforms Do Not Work

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