The Pakistan Development Review
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Policy Failure in Achieving Universal Basic Education: A Theoretical Analysis
Full text linkUniversal attainment of basic education is recognised as a key
development goal; whereas early-age work is considered as a barrier to
achieving this goal. The literature suggests that returns to education
are larger than those of early-age work, and that child-labour results
in long term social loss that reduces human capital. This study
evaluates the argument that earlyage work can itself lead to
accumulation of human capital when it takes the form of apprenticeship
career path. The paper develops a model that allows a rational agent
(parent) to compare the early-age work as apprenticeship career path
with the formal education career and shows that the parents’ career
choice for their child will depend on the lifetime earnings of both
careers. The theoretical model is further extended and empirically
tested to check whether benefits of education are higher for all levels
of education. The simulation analysis suggests that for lower level of
education up to Grade-12, the benefits of apprenticeship exceed the net
benefits of education whereas, at Grade-12 and beyond, the net benefits
of education in terms of earnings outstrip the apprenticeship career.
The study implies that early-age work may not necessarily be inefficient
when compared with low levels of schooling and that any intervention
should ensure universal education for all without compromising skill
development of resource poor children. This can be achieved through
making skill development complementary to education. JEL
Classifications: H44, H52, I26, J24 Keywords: Child-labour, Basic
Education, Human Capital, Public Polic
Climate Change and Drought: Impact of Food Insecurity on Gender Based Vulnerability in District Tharparkar
Full text linkClimate change has now become a reality that has intensified
the sufferings of people living in arid ecosystems. Decrease in
rainfall, rise in temperature and increase in the frequency of extreme
events are some of the changes observed in the semi-arid desert of
district Tharparkar. For thousands of years, people of Tharparkar are
coping with drought and aridity of the land by using indigenous
knowledge. However, global changes in the climatic pattern and
deterioration of social and economic conditions have pushed the
inhabitants of this arid region into extreme vulnerable situation. This
paper investigates the link between climate-induced natural disasters,
particularly drought, from the perspective of changing climate patterns
which have resulted in food insecurity and water scarcity. The paper
analyses the rainfall pattern in the last 38 years—dividing it into two
periods i.e. from 1975-1994 and 1995-2014. The findings of the paper
have challenged the prevailing notions about aridity and rainfall
patterns in Tharparkar district. The research found that there is an
increase in average annual precipitation in the district with erratic
patterns. Thus, the nature of drought in the district has changed from
its historic pattern of less or no rainfall to more but erratic rainfall
that is more threatening to livelihoods of the people that in turn have
multiplier effect on water and food insecurity. In particularly, women
are more vulnerable in the absence of social security and lack of basic
necessities for their survival amidst drought. For instance,
traditionally the burden of managing water resources falls on women,
which leads to an increased work load during the time of drought and
also water scarcity. JEL Classification: Q54, Q56, Q25, I30 Keywords:
Climate, Environment and Development, Drought, Water, Povert
Sara Rizvi Jafree. Women, Healthcare, and Violence in Pakistan. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press. 2017. 292 pages. Price Pak Rs 950.00.
Full text linkSara Rizvi Jafree's book titled Women, Healthcare and Violence
in Pakistan is a detailed explanation and analysis of various forms of
violence perpetuated and exercised against women professionals in the
field of healthcare. The book details the quantitative and qualitative
evidences of violence against women in the healthcare domain of
Pakistan. For quantitative evidence, the author has cited sources from
the reports published by the World Health Organisation and academic
materials published in medical journals in the context of Pakistan. For
the qualitative evidence, the author has included both event-based and
experiential narratives of women who shared lived experiences of
violence with the author while she conducted her research with the
female health professionals of Punjab. The book is divided into seven
chapters, each highlighting the evidence of gendered violence in a
synchronic and hybridised way
Determinants of Housing Demand in Urban Areas of Pakistan: Evidence from the PSLM
Full text linkThe study attempts to investigate the determinants of housing
demand in urban areas of Pakistan. The empirical analysis is carried out
using the Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement (PSLM) survey
2004-05 and 2010-11. The hedonic price model is used for the estimation
of house prices. In order to control the selectivity bias between the
tenure choice and the quantity of housing services demanded, Heckman's
two-step selection procedure is used. The empirical analysis shows that
housing price and income (temporary and permanent) play an important
role in the determination of the housing units' demand. An increase in
houses' prices causes decrease in demand for the housing units while the
housing demand increases when the permanent income increases. On the
face of change or increase in the transitory income, the demand for
housing units remains static, since people do not desire to make
long-term decisions based on volatile income. To manage rising housing
demand, government should focus on developing effective and enforced
price control mechanisms. Keywords: Urban Housing Demand, PSLM, Pakista
Achieving the Shared Economic Growth
Full text linkAfter critically reviewing the literature on the institutional
approaches for the shared growth, this paper briefly presents a General
Theory of Economic Development (GTED) as basis for the discussion of
shared growth. The GTED argues that Economic Discrimination (ED) by
Markets, Corporations and Government is a necessary condition for shared
economic development while Egalitarianism by any of them is a sufficient
condition for economic stagnation. ED means treating the different
differently while Egalitarianism is antithesis to ED. This paper also
presents a new empirical framework for analysing growth and productivity
implied by the GTED, and provides the empirical results that a 1 percent
increase of per capita corporate asset brings about a 0.4 percent
increase in per capita income and a decrease of income GIN1 coefficient
by 0.015, supporting "the corporate-led shared growth hypothesis" of the
GTED. Finally, the paper discusses the dramatic experiences of the rise.
and fall of Korea's economic development and the stagnated Pakistani
experience over the last 60 years, implying that the growth stagnation
has been due to the anti-corporate policy led by the egalitarianism. JEL
Classification: B, B5, D21, D23, 01, 043, P14 Keywords: General Theory
of Economic Development, Shared Growth, Economic Discrimination (ED),
Egalitarianism, Corporate-led Shared Growth, ED Policy Paradig
Remittances, Economic Growth and Poverty: A Case of African OIC Member Countries
Full text linkThis paper investigates the impact of remittance inflows on
economic growth and poverty reduction for seven African countries using
annual data from 1992-2010. By using the depth of hunger as a proxy for
poverty in a Simultaneous Equation Model (SEM), we find that remittances
have statistically significant growth enhancing and poverty reducing
impact. Drawing on our estimates, we conclude that financial development
level significantly increases the remittances inflows and strengthens
poverty alleviating impact of remittances. Results of our study further
show a signficant interactive imapct of remittances and finacial
develpment on economic growth, suggesting the substitutability between
remittance inflows and financial development. We further find that 3
percentage point increase in credit provision to the private sector
(financial development) can help eliminate the severe depth of hunger in
the region. Remittances, serving an alternative source of private
credit, can be effective in this regard. Keywords: Remittance Inflow,
Poverty Alleviation, Financial Development, Simultaneous Equation
Mode
Business Group Affiliation and Firm Performance—Evidence from Pakistani Listed Firms
Full text linkThis study analyses the financial performance of business
group affiliated firms relative to stand-alone firms in Pakistan. The
investigations are done across the sample period of 1993-2012. The study
employs ‘Chop shop’ methodology to construct the excess values
(performance measure); in order to compare the results with earlier well
documented studies of both developed and emerging countries. Both
univariate and regression analyses clearly demonstrate that group
affiliated firms are trading at discount (underperform relative to
stand-alone firms) during the sample period. Despite the historical
success in the past, the findings suggest that business groups evolve
differently in the post financial reforms and privatisation programs
era. The findings are consistent with the market failure argument and
agency theory. However, the study finds a little evidence of efficient
internal markets of Pakistani business groups. Keywords: Business
Groups, Group Affiliation, Excess Value, Market Failure Theory, Agency
Theory, Chop Shop Methodolog
Economic Contribution of Copyright-based Industries in Pakistan
Full text linkThe copyright-based industries contribute substantially to the
national economy in the form of value addition, tax revenues, trade and
employment. This study highlights both the core and non-core
copyright-based industries in Pakistan. With the technical guidance of
World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and National Institute
of Cultural Studies (NICS), we conducted the first ever survey of the
copyright-based industries in Pakistan. The estimates of contribution to
GDP, tax revenues, trade and employment were also validated through
focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Our findings
reveal that copyright-based industries contributed Rs 136 billion to GDP
(on 1999-2000 base year prices of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics). These
industries also contributed Rs 18 billion to the government in indirect
taxes. On the trade side, the exports of these industries totalled 2130 million in 2007-08. In terms of
job creation one of the core sub-sectors i.e. electronic media employed
around 47,000 persons by the end of 2011. JEL Classification: 034, F10,
E24 Keywords: Copyright, Economic Growth, Trade and Employmen
Exploring the Structure and Performance of Petroleum Retail Outlets in Pakistan
Full text linkThe petroleum retail industry is one of the least researched
industries in Pakistan due to, perhaps, unavailability of the relevant
data. This paper aims to fill this gap. Specifically, the present paper
examines the structure and performance of petrol pumps in Pakistan,
using primary survey data. Analysis of the data reveals that operating a
petrol pump is a profitable venture and both location and non-locational
variables are important in contributing to the profitability of a petrol
pump. The exploratory analysis shows that the petrol pumps in urban
areas and those on highways have higher sales, indicating that the
geographical location of a petrol pump is important in explaining a
petrol pump’s performance. According to the regression results, as the
size of a petrol pump increases, its profitability increases and there
is a non-linear relation between the distance variable and profitability
of a petrol pump. The non-linearity implies that there exists optimal
distance between two petrol pumps that maximises profits. This optimal
distance is shorter for urban and non-highway petrol pumps, compared
with rural and highway petrol pumps. JEL Classification: D24, L81, R3
Keywords: Cost, Retail Business, Firm Location, Petrol Pump