307 research outputs found
Remittances and Poverty Linkages in Pakistan: Evidence and Some Suggestions for Further Analysis
No full textGlobal remittances experienced a dramatic increase over the years, particularly since 1990 wherein the developing world emerged to be the major beneficiary accounting for 60 percent of the total amount. Because of the sheer volume, and magnitude of the remittances, and pre-eminence of these flows compared to the FDIs, development assistance and in some cases the trade related transactions, the development practitioners tended to focus and investigate the importance of remittances which are generally regarded as a dependable source for growth, improved welfare and poverty alleviation in the developing world. Given the fact that remittances flows entail wide ranging ramifications both for sending as well as receiving countries, difficult to be generalised, hence empirical evidence has been mounted though lack of consensus is visible.
Contribution of Services Sector in the Economy of Pakistan
No full textThe services sector has provided steady support to Pakistan’s economic growth. It share in GDP now stands a more than 50 percent. The paper analyses its continuation in the growth of the economy in general and the development of trade and genera tion of employment in particular. The study identifies the bottlenecks in its growth and suggest measures to remove them. A set of policy reforms has been suggested to make the sector more effective in the growth of the national economy.Services Sector, Industry, Employment, Financial Institutions and Pakistan’s Economy
Poverty Dynamics of Female-headed Households in Pakistan: Evidence from PIHS 2000-01 and PSLM 2004-05
No full textThe paper attempts to empirically test a naïve version of what is rather stylistically termed as “feminisation of poverty”, using the sub-sample of female -headed households (FHHs) from two household surveys in Pakistan. Although, the database is constrained by quality factors and small sample size, the following findings add to the richness of current research in this area: (a) The numerical incidence of poverty among households headed by females is less than that for all households in the country, at the national, urban and rural level for both the years. This can be traced to the finding that more than 70 percent of households headed by females receive remittances, (b) The incidence of poverty among FHHs during the period 2000-01 to 2004-05 did not decline as fast as it did for mixed households, nationwide. In urban areas, it did not decline at all, (c) Among the determinants of poverty of FHHs, illiteracy, dependency and rural residence exacerbate poverty, while remittances domestic and/ or foreign reduce poverty, (d) The dynamics of incidence of poverty among FHHs during the period indicated that Illiteracy as the factor exacerbating poverty became less important in 2004-05. Moreover, residence in rural areas was also a weaker factor in determining the incidence of poverty. By far the most notable contribution in reducing the incidence of poverty was self-employment in agriculture in 2004-05.
Estimating the Middle Class in Pakistan
No full textThe concept ‘middle class’ is one of the most commonly used terms in the social sciences, including economics, sociology and political science. Despite its frequent use there is, however, no consensus on what the term exactly implies and its meaning remains ambiguous depending primarily on the context in which it is used. It is viewed as the class that is between, and separates, the lower and the upper classes, that is the rich and the poor, but there is no agreement on the exact boundaries that separates them. Most of the definitions and measurements of the middle class continue to be somewhat arbitrary and vague.
Interface Effects Enabling New Applications of Two-Dimensional Materials
No full textInterface effects in two-dimensional (2D) materials play a critical role for the electronic
properties and device characteristics. Here we use first-principles calculations
to investigate interface effects in 2D materials enabling new applications. We first
show that graphene in contact with monolayer and bilayer PtSe2 experiences weak
van der Waals interaction. Analysis of the work functions and band bending at the
interface reveals that graphene forms an n-type Schottky contact with monolayer
PtSe2 and a p-type Schottky contact with bilayer PtSe2, whereas a small biaxial
tensile strain makes the contact Ohmic in the latter case as required for transistor
operation. For silicene, which is a 2D Dirac relative of graphene, structural buckling
complicates the experimental synthesis and strong interaction with the substrate perturbs
the characteristic linear dispersion. To remove this obstacle, we propose solid
argon as a possible substrate for realizing quasi-freestanding silicene and argue that
a weak van der Waals interaction and small binding energy indicate the possibility to
separate silicene from the substrate. For the silicene-PtSe2 interface, we demonstrate
much stronger interlayer interaction than previously reported for silicene on other
semiconducting substrates. Due to the inversion symmetry breaking and proximity
to PtSe2, a band gap opening and spin splittings in the valence and conduction bands
of silicene are observed. It is also shown that the strong interlayer interaction can be
effectively reduced by intercalating NH3 molecules between silicene and PtSe2, and
a small NH3 discussion barrier makes intercalation a viable experimental approach.
Silicene/germanene are categorized as key materials for the field of valleytronics due
to stronger spin-orbit coupling as compared to graphene. However, no viable route
exists so far to experimental realization. We propose F-doped WS2 as substrate that
avoids detrimental effects and at the same time induces the required valley polarization.
The behavior is explained by proximity effects on silicene/germanene due to
the underlying substrate. Broken inversion symmetry in the presence of WS2 opens
a substantial band gap in silicene/germanene. F doping of WS2 results in spin polarization,
which, in conjunction with proximity-enhanced spin orbit coupling, creates
sizable spin-valley polarization. For heterostructures of silicene and hexagonal boron
nitride, we show that the stacking is fundamental for the details of the dispersion
relation in the vicinity of the Fermi energy (gapped, non-gapped, linear, parabolic)
despite small differences in the total energy. We also demonstrate that the tightbinding
model of bilayer graphene is able to capture most of these features and we
identify the limitations of the model
Virus-Induced Gene Silencing in Cultivated Cotton (Gossypium spp.) Using Tobacco Rattle Virus.
No full textThe study described here has optimized the conditions for virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) in three cultivated cotton species (Gossypium hirsutum, G. arboreum, and G. herbaceum) using a Tobacco rattle virus (TRV) vector. The system was used to silence the homolog of the Arabidopsis thaliana chloroplastos alterados 1 (AtCLA1) gene, involved in chloroplast development, in G. herbaceum, G. arboreum, and six commercial G. hirsutum cultivars. All plants inoculated with the TRV vector to silence CLA1 developed a typical albino phenotype indicative of silencing this gene. Although silencing in G. herbaceum and G. arboreum was complete, silencing efficiency differed for each G. hirsutum cultivar. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time quantitative PCR showed a reduction in mRNA levels of the CLA1 homolog in all three species, with the highest efficiency (lowest CLA1 mRNA levels) in G. arboreum followed by G. herbaceum and G. hirsutum. The results indicate that TRV is a useful vector for VIGS in Gossypium species. However, selection of host cultivar is important. With the genome sequences of several cotton species recently becoming publicly available, this system has the potential to provide a very powerful tool for the rapid, large-scale reverse-genetic analysis of genes in Gossypium spp
Factors Determining Public Demand for Safe Drinking Water (A Case Study of District Peshawar)
No full textOvertime per capita water availability in the world as well as in Pakistan has been declining. Water sources have depleted and become polluted therefore, now water has become a scarce good. Resultantly, the inadequate water supply, sanitation, and hygiene are rooting major environmental degradation and health damages in the country. This study was undertaken to analyze the magnitude of awareness, perception, practices, and demand for safe drinking water. The study further elaborated HHs Willingness to Pay (WTP) for improved water quality and services in district Peshawar of NWFP, Pakistan. Primary data was collected from 315 HHs which consist 2455 HH members from district Peshawar. Schooling, exposure to mass media, HH income and occurrence of diarrhoeal diseases were used to measure the HHs’ response towards the health risks associated with contaminated water. Moreover, to find out public acceptability to government and private sector as service providers, HH’s were asked two separate questions regarding their maximum willingness to pay for an improved water system by either one. Out of the sample HHs, 78.4 percent were willing to accept improved water system provided by government while relatively less HHs (55.6 percent) were WTP in the case of private company as the service provider. It is worth mentioning that according to sample about 76 percent HHs were not using any method for water purification at their homes in district Peshawar. This study empirically proved that the role of awareness besides the income constraint is the key determinants of demand for safe drinking water.
Factors Determining Public Demand for Safe Drinking Water (A Case Study of District Peshawar)
No full textOvertime per capita water availability in the world as well as in Pakistan has been declining. Water sources have depleted and become polluted therefore, now water has become a scarce good. Resultantly, the inadequate water supply, sanitation, and hygiene are rooting major environmental degradation and health damages in the country. This study was undertaken to analyze the magnitude of awareness, perception, practices, and demand for safe drinking water. The study further elaborated HHs Willingness to Pay (WTP) for improved water quality and services in district Peshawar of NWFP, Pakistan. Primary data was collected from 315 HHs which consist 2455 HH members from district Peshawar. Schooling, exposure to mass media, HH income and occurrence of diarrhoeal diseases were used to measure the HHs response towards the health risks associated with contaminated water. Moreover, to find out public acceptability to government and private sector as service providers, HHs were asked two separate questions regarding their maximum willingness to pay for an improved water system by either one. Out of the sample HHs, 78.4 percent were willing to accept improved water system provided by government while relatively less HHs (55.6 percent) were WTP in the case of private company as the service provider. It is worth mentioning that according to sample about 76 percent HHs were not using any method for water purification at their homes in district Peshawar. This study empirically proved that the role of awareness besides the income constraint is the key determinants of demand for safe drinking water.water supply, environmental degradation, willingness to pay, water demand
Algebraic Representation of Social Capital Matrix
No full textThis paper proposes a mathematical model based on a Boolean algebra involving a 44 social capital matrix [Shah (2008)], that emerges through interaction within and across individuals, communities, institutions and state. The framework provides a coding system for the existence or otherwise of various categories of social interaction. The model illustrates that social interaction can be neatly described in a format that facilitates the interpretation of social intra- and interactions among the four types of players in generating economic activity.Social Capital (Matrix), Linear Space, Interactive Systems, Boolean Algebra
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