The Pakistan Development Review
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Dynamic Modelling of Energy and Growth in South Asia
Get PDFEnergy plays an important role on the demand and the supply
sides of the economy. On the demand side, energy is one of the products
a consumer decides to buy to maximise his utility. On the supply side,
energy is the key factor of production in addition to labour, capital
and other raw materials. Energy is considered to be the key element in
the socio-economic development of a country. It also helps to improve
the living standards of the society through the increase in economic
growth. This implies that there is a causal link running from energy
consumption to economic growth. If causality runs from energy
consumption to GDP then it implies that an economy is energy dependent
and hence energy is a stimulus to economic growth [Jumbe (2004)].
Shortage of energy may negatively affect economic growth and may cause
poor economic performance leading to a reduction of income and
employment. On the other hand, if causality runs from GDP to energy
consumption, this implies that economy is not energy dependent, and
hence energy conservation policies may be implemented without adverse
effects on economic growth and employment [Masih and Masih (1997)]. If
there is no causality between energy consumption and GDP, it implies
that energy conservation policies may be pursued without affecting the
economy [Jumbe (2004)]. Based on these arguments, it is necessary to
analyse the link between energy consumption and economic growth because
it is often argued that the increased availability of energy services
act as key stimulus of the process of economic development
Willingness to Pay for the Quality of Drinking Water
Get PDFWillingness-to-Pay to avoid risks has long been recognised as
an important response to perceived environmental and health hazards.
Abdalla, et al. (1992) have documented the existence of consumer
averting behaviour in response to potential water contamination, while
Musser, et al. (1992) Smith and Desvouges (1986) and Courant and Porter
(1998) were among the first to provide a theoretical framework for the
averting behaviour in response to pollution. All these studies estimated
that averting behaviour formed a lower bound willingness-to-pay for
reduction in pollution under certain conditions. In developing countries
willingness-to-pay and demand for the good quality drinking water is
often low. The major causes are lack of awareness regarding the
contamination of drinking water and low levels of household incomes. The
objectives of this paper are (a) to estimate the effects of formal and
informal awareness of households on the demand for the home purification
methods and b) to estimate willingness to pay for the safe drinking
water. To accomplish these objectives we develop a theoretical framework
of households’ water purification behaviour by incorporating the wealth
and awareness indicators of households
Water Resources and Conservation Strategy of Pakistan
Get PDFWater is one of the basic necessities of life. God has gifted
Pakistan with abundant water resources, with rivers flowing down the
Himalayas and Karakoram heights from the world’s largest glaciers and
free and unique bounty for this land. Pakistan is basically an agrarian
economy. Out of its total geographical area of 79.61 million hectares,
cultivated area is 22.05 million hectares. The total area under
irrigation is 19.02 million hectares [Agricultural Statistics of
Pakistan (2005-06)]. Irrigated land supplies more than 90 percent of
agricultural production and most of the country’s food. Agriculture
sector is regarded as the backbone of Pakistan’s economy. It contributes
25 percent of the GDP. About more than 50 percent labour force is
employed in this sector. Agriculture sector is also the major user of
water and its consumption will continue to dominate water requirement.
Similarly, for industrial development main source of energy is
hydropower which is generated by dint of water stored in big dams and
reservoirs. Therefore the importance of the water for the survival of
our economy cannot be denied
Environment and Natural Resource Management (The Presidential Address)
No full textEngr. Dr. M. Akram Sheikh, Deputy Chairman, Planning
Commission of Pakistan. Past Presidents of the Pakistan Society of
Development Economists, Distinguished participants to the 23rd Annual
Conference and General Meeting of the Society. Ladies and Gentlemen: It
is indeed an honour and privilege for me to deliver the Presidential
address at this prestigious forum. I am very well aware of my
distinguished predecessors who have served as Presidents of this Society
and I hope that I can during my tenure do justice to this
responsibility. As you perhaps know yesterday we held the first
Convocation of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics and in
the afternoon we launched the Golden Jubilee Celebrations to mark fifty
years of its existence. I am sure that given the high regard and esteem
with which we all hold the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics,
members of the Society will share in the pride that we all feel on the
award of 10 PhDs and one MPhil to students of the Institute and also
join me in congratulating the Institute on the occasion of its Golden
Jubilee. The plans are to hold the Golden Jubilee Celebrations in
different parts of the country and we look forward to your active
participation in these events
Intellectual Property Rights and Economic Growth: The Case of Middle Income Developing Countries
Get PDFIntellectual property (IP) refers to the creation of mind:
inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, name, and images
used in commerce. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) have been widely
recognised as a growth enhancing factor for the global economies as a
whole. IPRs regime can influence the growth process through domestic and
external sector of an economy. This study is primarily concerned with
the effects of IPRs regime through external sector. Through different
channels IPRs can promote economic growth in the recipient countries.
The most important is technology transfer and its positive spillovers.
Therefore, IPRs exert economic growth, which requires increase in
productivity, increase in productivity requires increase in
technological innovation and it requires the efficient protection of
IPRs Rapp and Rozek (1990). The IPRs can influence the average growth
more effectively in the open economies as compare to the close one Gould
and Gruben (1996). Latter on Thompson and Rushing (1999) extended the
model and included total factor productivity (TFP) in their growth
model, which shows that IPRs have an insignificant impact on TFP for
developed and developing countries but a positive and significant impact
for the developed countries. To sustain economic growth it requires
secured property rights system
New Keynesian Phillips Curve for Pakistan
Get PDFRecently macroeconomists have moved to a new neo-classical
synthesis by integrating Keynesian features like imperfect competition
and nominal rigidities with dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model
of the Real Business Cycle Theory with micro foundations and rational
expectations, [see, for instance, McCallum and Nelson (1999)]. The
standard model comprises of a trinity; consumption and inflation
adjustment equations with a monetary authority’s reaction function. One
of the pillar of the modelinflation adjustment equation, also known as
New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) in the literature, has at least two
important features; unlike the traditional Phillips curve the NKPC is
forward-looking; and it has been derived from the profit maximising
behaviour of the firms in a monopolistically competitive market
structure
Inaugural Address
Get PDFDistinguished Guests, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen: It
gives me great pleasure to inaugurate the 23rd Annual General Meeting of
the Pakistan Society of Development Economists. I am particularly happy
at the choice of theme for this year’s conference i.e. “Environment and
Natural Resource Management: Issues and Challenges”, as it shows the
deep concern of Pakistani economists that economic development and
growth cannot go on indefinitely without limit and without regard to our
habitat and environment. I will invite your attention to a few areas
which are impacting Pakistani development strategies. Our planet just
cannot sustain its present and future population numbers, if the current
global trends of consumption continue in the attitude of business as
usual. We have witnessed the effect of this most acutely in the last
couple of years, with major increases in prices of most food
commodities, minerals and metals, and of course fossil fuels. Globally,
the amount of land on which we grow our food has been shrinking every
year, and has actually fallen to less than half of the hectares per
capita used for grain production fifty years ago
Ecofeminist Movements— from the North to the South
Get PDFEcofeminism grows from the idea that a woman’s ethics are
closer to nature than a man’s and it revalue feminine traits. Women are
seen in sync with nature, working in union with it, while men have a
hierarchical relationship with nature in which their actions try to
dominate it. This view poses the idea that men’s control over nature has
created an ecological crisis in much of the world today. Ecofeminists
look for non-violent solutions to world problems. They consider feminine
values necessary for survival in the conditions of the world's
patriarchy. And while ecofeminists may subscribe to liberal, radical, or
Marxist/socialist thought, their main focus is on ecology—both of nature
and human systems
Household’s Willingness to Pay for Safe Drinking Water: A Case Study of Abbottabad District
Get PDFDrinking water is the basic need of human life. Safe drinking
water is an essential component of primary health care and have vital
role in poverty alleviation. There is positive correlation between
increased national income and the proportion of population with access
to improved water supply. An increase of 0.3 percent investment in
household access to safe drinking water generates one percent increase
in GDP. Whereas, provision of safe drinking water supply is an effective
health intervention reduces the mortality caused by water-borne diseases
by an average 70 percent. Inadequate drinking water not only resulted in
more sickness and deaths, but also augments health costs, lower worker
productivity and school enrolment [World Bank (1994)]. The World Health
Organisation (WHO) estimate 1.8 million people in developing countries
die every year from diarrhea and cholera, Out of these 90 percent are
children under the age of five years. While 88 percent of diarrhoeal
diseases are attributed to unsafe water supply, inadequate sanitation
and hygiene [WHO (2004)]. The situation is not very different in
Pakistan; the access to safe drinking water is estimated to be available
to 23.5 percent of population in rural areas and 30 percent in urban
areas. While every year 0.2 million children die due to diarrhoeal
diseases [Rosemann (2005)]
Energy Use for Economic Growth: Cointegration and Causality Analysis from the Agriculture Sector of Pakistan
Get PDFProductivity is closely associated with direct and indirect
use of energy as an input. The importance of energy can not be denied as
one of the basic inputs to economic growth process. The consumption of
energy has been among the critical indicators of the level of
development of any country. It is observed that usually the developed
countries use more energy per unit of economic output and far more
energy per capita than developing countries. This reflects the adoption
of increasingly more efficient technologies for energy production and
utilisation as well as changes in the composition of economic
activities. This, largely, needs a shift in energy use [Cheng and Lai
(1997)]. When this shift in the composition of final energy use is taken
into account energy use and the level of economic activity are found to
be tightly coupled. The prospect of large reduction in the energy use
intensity of economic activity seems limited. So, the accelerated demand
results in the scarcity of energy and increasing cost have severe
implications for economic growth. This ever increasing role of energy in
the present day scenario underlines the need to increase the supply of
energy and to find some new alternative energy sources and energy
conservation technique