The Pakistan Development Review
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Gender Analysis of Children’s Activities in Pakistan
Get PDFThis paper estimates gender differences in children’s time
allocation among four ordered options. It analyses the sample of boys
and girls separately through a series of probit models using primary
data. We compare the socio-economic determinants of boys’ and girls’
activities. The results suggest that boys are more likely to go to
school as compared to girls with the increase in their age. The
provision of schooling as an instrument to decrease child labour and
home-care would affect boys more than girls. To make the adults literate
(five years of education) only is not enough to eliminate the gender gap
in schooling; a greater number of years of adult education is necessary.
The female adult education may be devised to eliminate gender
discrimination in child schooling. In the larger households, girls drop
out of school and are absorbed in the labour market earlier than boys.
The results further suggested that the use of resources is significantly
different for boys’ and girls’ welfare. Thus, we conclude that girls can
be a better target for increase in the welfare of all children in
Pakistan
Is There Any Role of Technological Inputs? A District-wise Analysis of Output Differential in Crop Sector
Get PDFThe idea of inclusive growth has emerged over time that
highlighted systematically excluded segments of society from enjoying
the benefits of growth on the basis of religion, ethnicity or location.
In Pakistan, districts-wise allocation and usage of technological inputs
is the outcome of growth and the important contributing elements as well
to enhance specifically crop sector output under the advancement in
growth prospective. It is reported that crop sector output contributes
around 40 percent of the total agricultural GDP,1 where 2/3rd belongs to
Punjab.2 The introduction of advance technological inputs provides an
opportunity to enhance production potentials of crop sector in different
provinces and their respective districts because Pakistan is also facing
the problem of low agricultural productivity in comparison to many
developed and developing countries of the world.3 Secondly, the
expansion of opportunities to enhance economic freedom in long run has
been considered an important issue that needs to be addressed in
inclusive growth process. Hence, understanding the interrelationship
among different farm related inputs effecting crop sector would help to
measure (i) the impact of increased total traditional and technological
inputs; (ii) contributive aspects of both types of technological inputs;
machine and bio-chemical; and (iii) districtwise differential especially
considering their resource endowments and availability
Savitri Goonesekere (ed.). Violence, Law and Women’s Rights in South Asia. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2004. 352 pages. Paperback. Indian Rs 390.00.
Get PDFThe book titled Violence, Law and Women’s Rights in South Asia
deals with a critically important issue for all countries, and
particularly so for South Asian countries. In the latter, despite
socio-cultural similarities, significant differences exist in handling
gender-based violence. The issues are linked to the socio-cultural norms
of the societies and the legal and institutional set-up prevailing in
each country—viz., India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The present study was
initiated by United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in
collaboration with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Inter-city Variation in Prices
Get PDFThis research has been motivated by the fact that inter-city
variation in prices and hence cost of living has implications for many
aspects of development and public policy. This is true for all countries
and especially for developing countries like Pakistan where one would
expect differences in cost of living to be more pronounced (ceterus
paribus) due to a relatively underdeveloped transport network and a lack
of development of a national common market. A better understanding of
the inter-city variation in prices indicates the extent to which markets
within countries are integrated. A monitoring of the inter-city price
index over time indicates whether the economy as a whole has become more
or less integrated over time i.e. has there has been convergence or
divergence within the local economy (which has also been one of the
objectives of this research). Secondly, a quantification of inter-city
variation in cost of living is essential to understand differentials in
real incomes across the country. Such an understanding will yield fairer
minimum wage legislation by the government and also wage remuneration
packages by employers in both the public and private sectors operating
in multiple cities thus leading to better equalisation of real wages
across locations. As noted by Haworth and Rasmussen (1973) the pursuit
of a uniform wage policy by the U.S. Post Office in the 1970s led to
greater wage dissatisfaction among workers and labor strikes in areas
where cost of living was relatively higher. Thirdly, allowing for cost
of living differentials among cities will lead to better estimates of
urban inequality and incidence of poverty. In this context it is
particularly important to see if differences in cost of living mitigate
or accentuate the difference in the magnitude of poverty between richer
and poor jurisdictions. The estimation of cost of living differentials
will also lead to much greater understanding of migration patterns
within countries and the functioning of regional and interregional
markets across the country which are directly related to cost of living,
and real wages/incomes. For example, if the same minimum wage
legislation is applicable to the whole country, it will lead to
migration to those cities where cost of living is relative low and hence
the real value of the minimum wages is high (ceterus paribus). This
illustrates the important implications that uniform minimum wage
legislation and welfare packages across the country have for migration
patterns when cost of living differentials are significant
The Politics of Service Delivery in Pakistan: Political Parties and the Incentives for Patronage, 1988-1999
Get PDFThis paper examines the impact of the political party
structure on the incentives for politicians to focus on patronage versus
service delivery improvements in Pakistan. By analysing inter-provincial
variations in the quality of service delivery in Pakistan, the paper
argues that the more fragmented, factionalised, and polarised the party
systems, the greater are the incentives for patronage, weakening service
delivery improvements. Fragmentation and factionalism both exacerbate
the information problems that voters have in assigning credit (blame)
for service delivery improvements (deterioration), thereby creating the
incentives for politicians to focus on targeted benefits. Polarisation,
particularly ethnic polarisation, reduces the ability of groups to agree
on the provision of public goods, again causing politicians to favour
the delivery of targeted benefits
Assessing Labour Market Vulnerability among Young People
Get PDFLabour market performance in Pakistan has improved markedly in
recent years. This paper examines the extent to which young people have
benefited from this improvement, using the labour market vulnerability
framework that was recently introduced by the ILO. This framework can be
used to assess the difficulties young people face on the road to decent
employment, and may also serve as a basis for the development of
appropriate policies and interventions. Drawing on empirical evidence
from various surveys, in particular the Labour Force Survey, we conclude
that vulnerability among the youth has generally been reduced since
1999-2000. Vulnerability of women has been reduced through higher
enrolment rates in education, and unemployment among both men and women
has declined. Far less progress has been made in reducing vulnerability
among the employed, and youth still face numerous obstacles that hamper
the attainment of decent employment. The paper offers recommendations on
the role of labour market information in reducing youth vulnerability.
JEL classification: J40, J13 Keyword: Labour Market; Youth;
Pakista
Telecommunication Infrastructure Development and Economic Growth: A Panel Data Approach
Get PDFWorld is going to be global village due to the introduction of
new and advanced technology and new innovations in technology make it
more possible day by day. The widely spread economic activities both in
real as well as in credit market is possible when they use advance
technology to communicate. This is a fact that the world is rapidly
moving towards an economic system based on the continuous and ubiquitous
availability of information. Developing countries try to maintain and
develop their technology in such a way that they can become a part of
this global village. Recent developments in telecommunication technology
have been an important tool to exchange the information to develop a
sharp and valuable commodity market. During 21st century to move into
post-industrial, information based economic growth, countries and sector
try to equip themselves with the necessary telecommunication system. A
modern telecommunication infrastructure is not only important for
economic growth but also to connect domestic market of commodities as
well as credit with international commodity and financial markets. This
would develop the smooth flow of foreign investment, positive value of
net exports, increase the value addition in GDP of an economy etc. Once
the industrial and agriculture development was considered to be a best
tool to enhance economic growth of a country, every country gave more
importance to these sectors in its plans and policies, but now the trend
has changed because the advancement and development of these two major
sector of an economy sustain on the development of other factors, the
role of service sector, advancement in technology, and the contribution
of foreign sector in economic growth by different ways increases, and
the major area of interest for foreign sector or investment was service
sector and still it is, countries with the existence of GATS, started to
privatise their set up, and after realising the importance of
communications, the telecommunication sector is now on their main
priorities. With the advancement of telecommunication services, a new
market mechanism, low cost structure and expanded value chain of firms
is possible [Kambil and Short (1994)], on other hand in developing
countries, the average price of agricultural commodities is high in the
area where there is telephone facilities available than the area where
there is no facilities to communicate [Bayes, et al. (1999)]
Ajit Mishra. The Economics of Corruption. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. 2005. 336 pages. Hardbound. Indian Rs 650.00.
Get PDFThe Economics of Corruption is a collection of papers covering
both the theoretical as well as the empirical perspectives on
corruption. It deals with various aspects of corruption and provides a
well-integrated framework for research in this growing and active area
of inquiry. Besides the first chapter, “Corruption: An Overview”,
written by Ajit Mishra, which is an excellent review of the existing
literature in the field, the book consists of ten articles divided by
three themes. “Corruption as phenomena [sic] is always associated with
an agency structure” writes Ajit in the introductory chapter of the book
(p. 5). Corruption arises when the principal and agent have conflicting
objectives and the principal fails to design the comprehensive
enforceable contract due to lack of information. It becomes complicated
when the principal puts an incentive scheme in place so as to induce
optimal action by the agent and hires another agent to implement this
incentive scheme, referred to as Supervisor. Ajit classifies this
Principal-Supervisor-Agent problem, broadly, into three different types
of relationships according to the powers and responsibilities enjoyed by
the Supervisor
Price Integration in Wholesale Maize Markets in Pakistan
Get PDFContinuing debate concerning the appropriate role of the
government in the marketplace and the necessity to some how estimate the
effects of agricultural policies on agricultural markets have forced
researchers to develop various methods, which would enable them to
analyse market efficiency. Government intervention in setting prices,
incomes and markets is always controversial. For economists, government
intervention may be justified if it does not enhance distortions into
the market and, moreover, remedies the existing market imperfections.
But how can one observe whether the policy proves to improve market
functioning or results in even more inefficiency? One way to throw some
light on this long-standing issue is to analyse market performance by
studying market integration. Three types of market integration are
identified in the literature, which are intertemporal, vertical and
spatial. Inter-temporal market integration relates to the arbitrage
process across periods. Vertical market integration is concerned with
stages in marketing and processing channels. Spatial integration is
concerned with the integration of spatially distinct markets i.e. if
price changes in one market are fully reflected in alternative market
then these markets are said to be spatially integrated. The concept of
market integration has normally been applied in studies involving
spatial market interrelatedness
Do Public Expenditure and Macroeconomic Uncertainty Matter to Private Investment? Evidence from Pakistan
Get PDFThis study examines the role of macroeconomic uncertainty and
public expenditure in determining private fixed investment in Pakistan.
It is found that individual series are nonstationary. There is a
long-run relationship between private fixed investment, public
consumption expenditure, public development expenditure, and market
activities. It is revealed that public development expenditure
stimulates private investment, whereas public consumption expenditure is
detrimental to private investment. The preferred dynamic private fixed
investment function confirms that in the short run, public development
expenditure enhances private investment. Moreover, macroeconomic
instability and uncertainty depresses private investment in
Pakistan