Search

The 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, Pakistan

This paper empirically analyses the impact of institutions, both formal and informal, on innovation performance of sampled countries at different stages of development. Data of 72 sampled countries on Research and Development Expenditures, numbers of article published, human capital, trade openness, internet users are collected from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) and World Bank database. Formal and informal institutions indexes are constructed using data from Country Risk Guide and The World Value Survey (WVS). Fixed effect and System GMM technique are used to estimate the dynamic relationship between innovation performance and institutional indexes. The study finds positive significant effect of institutions on innovation in case of aggregate sample of developed and developing countries. However, the effects of formal institutions are more significant in case of sample of developed countries, while in developing countries informal institutions are found more effective than formal institutions in affecting innovation performance. The results also show that both formal and informal institutions are supplementary to each other in case of developing countries. Therefore, it is suggested that focus should be given to informal institutions. Moreover, collective initiatives be encourage in developing countries to have diverse ideas from different sectors of the countries. In addition, developing countries should initiate collaborative research projects with technologically advanced countries research and education institutions so as to learn from each other’s ideas and experiences. Keywords: Formal Institutions, Informal Institutions, Innovation

The study aims to develop health poverty index (HPI) using the Alkire Foster (AF) Method for Pakistan based on district representative data obtained from Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) 2012-13. Using HPI, this study investigates the spatial differences of health poverty at sub-national level and explores the socioeconomic determinants. The analysis reveals that the headcount health poverty is 41 percent in Pakistan. Further, the ratio is very high in rural areas (50 percent) as compared to urban areas (22 percent). Provincial analysis shows that Punjab is the least poor province (36 percent) while Balochistan is the poorest province (62 percent). The majority of the households are deprived in term of cost of health services, post-natal care and child immunisation. Empirical analysis shows that income, regional variation, education and awareness play very important role in explaining health poverty. To eradicate health deprivation, area and dimension specific policies are required to make efficient use of scarce resources. JEL Classification: I12, I32, J18 Keywords: Health Poverty, Spatial Analysis, Alkire Foster Method

The purpose of this study is two fold. First, to estimate the impact of institutional and non-institutional arrangements on bilateral trade, and second to analyse the impact of SAFTA on bilateral trade in the short as well as in the long run. The empirical analysis which is based on the panel of eight South Asian countries, comprising data over the period i.e. 1975–2013 is conducted using fixed effects model along with Pooled Mean-Group (PMG) estimator for estimating the short and long-run relationships. The analysis has shown that trade agreements including South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) are not effective in promoting trade, due to low institutional quality and stringent non-institutional arrangements, including high tariff along with low physical infrastructure. Further empirical analysis has shown that both SAFTA and MFN can only contribute to bilateral trade significantly, if complemented by institutional framework. As a policy lesson, to improve the trade ties between India and Pakistan, improvement in physical as well as soft infrastructure is required. Any trade agreements between the two, including MFN can only be effective, when it is supported by a well-defined and enforced institutional framework that ensure the implementation of policy reforms needed to reduce tariff rate and remove non-tariff barriers.

Urban Poverty, the result of urbanization is distinct from rural poverty due to its incidental and demographic aspects and the clear understanding of its nature and magnitude required re-examining it especially at the city level. The objective of this paper is to re-examine the determinants of urban poverty in medium sized city of Pakistan such as Sargodha. The analysis is survey-based on a sample of 330 households. The extent, gap and severity of urban poverty are measured by official and urban specific poverty lines depicting the increasing trend in poverty. The empirical results are also supported by bivariatre and multivariate analysis. The probability of being poor is significantly influenced by variables such as public employment, informal sector, household size, and age and sex composition of head of the household. The paper suggested that urban poverty can be reduced by provision of public amenities and investing in human capital.

The aim of the present study is twofold. First, we develop a theoretical model which incorporates the role of institutions in promoting economic growth. The theoretical model predicts that rent seeking activities decrease as institutional quality improves, and hence income increases and vice versa. Second, we conduct an empirical analysis to quantify the impact of institutions on economic growth in selected Asian economies over the period 1996- 2012 by employing both static and dynamic panel system Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) technique with fixed effects. The empirical results reveal that institutions indeed are important in determining the long run economic growth in Asian economies. However, the impact of institutions on economic growth differs across Asian economies and depends on the level of economic development. The results reveal that institutions are more effective in developed Asia than developing Asia. This evidence implies that different countries require different set of institutions to promote long term economic growth. Keywords: Institutions, Economic Growth, Panel Evidence, Asia

Pakistan has plunged into darkness because of severe electricity shortage over the last few years. The electricity shortfall has reached 4,250 MW with demand standing at 16,400 MW and generation at 12,150 MW in June 2013 (PEPCO). The load shedding and power blackouts act as a binding constraint to the economic growth through their impact on employment, trade and poverty [Kessides (2013)]. The existing statistics reveal that Pakistan has witnessed low GDP growth rate during the periods of low or negative electricity growth and during the periods where electricity growth picked up there is an increase in GDP growth rate [Pakistan (2013)]. The power crisis has destroyed the industrial sector of Pakistan. Around 40 percent factories and industry units have now been closed and around 7.5 percent of labour force is out of jobs only because of this dilemma.1

This study examines the role of democratic institutions in an attempt to explain the relationship between fiscal decentralisation and inflation. The empirical analysis is based on time series data over 1972–2010 for Pakistan using the GMM estimation procedure. Three different measures of fiscal decentralisation are used in order to capture multidimensionality. The major findings of the study suggest that expenditure decentralisation has a negative impact on inflation if accompanied by democratic institutions. Revenue decentralisation, however, has a negative impact on inflation even in the absence of institutions, though institutions accentuate this effect. The role of institutions, therefore, is important in realising the benefits of fiscal decentralisation. Composite decentralisation has a negative and significant impact on inflation. This implies that expenditure decentralisation becomes effective when it is complemented with revenue decentralisation. Intuitively, provincial governments become more responsive when their expenditure needs are met with their own revenues. JEL Classification: E31, H11, H72 Keywords: Fiscal Decentralisation, Inflation, Institutions, Pakistan

Download the file

Download the file

Wage differential due to employer size is one of the key areas of interest in labour market research because a strong positive relationship between employer size and wages has been observed in developed and developing countries. It is, however, relatively neglected area of research in Pakistan. The purpose of present study is to investigate the employer size wage differential by looking at human capital factors. The study is based on standard methodology and estimates earning functions on Labour Force Survey (LFS) data for year 2007-08. Results clearly show that human capital investment has a bigger role in determining wages in the larger firms as compared to smaller firms. The main policy implications emanating from the analysis are the higher investment in skill which increases opportunities for workers in the labour market for higher wages and for jobs with good characteristics especially in large sized firms. The government policy towards education and skill formation needs serious reforms and better allocation of funds so that people get chance to enhance their skill level hence wages. JEL classification: J31, J40, J24 Keywords: Wage Differential, Human Capital, Labour Market

The paper has twofold objectives. Firstly, the impact of the inflation rate on economic growth with the possibility of two threshold levels for Pakistan using annual data from 1961 to 2008 is examined and secondly, nonlinear relationship between inflation and investment has been investigated. Inflation and growth models support the existence of a nonlinear relationship with two thresholds (6 percent and 11 percent). Inflation below the first threshold affects economic growth positively but insignificantly; at moderate rates of inflation, between the two threshold levels, the effect of inflation is significant and strongly negative and at high rates of inflation, above the second threshold, the marginal impact of additional inflation on economic growth diminishes but is still significantly negative. Investment is one of the possible channels through which inflation influences economic growth and the analysis indicates the nonlinear relationship between these two variables with only one threshold at 7 percent. Rate of inflation below the threshold level has positive but insignificant impact, while above the threshold it has strong negative and significant impact on the investment. Therefore, it is desirable to keep the inflation below 6 percent because it may be helpful for the achievement of robust economic growth and investment. JEL classification: E22, E31, O40 Keywords: Investment, Inflation, Economic Growth, Nonlinear, Pakistan.

International trade around the world is growing rapidly and it is very effective in improving the living standards of a nation, but still free trade faces many critics. They complain that free trade causes harmful economic adjustments, for example increase in unemployment through the closing of factories etc. The critic further object that the World Trade Organisation serves the interests of international corporations, undercuts domestic environment regulations, and erodes America’s sovereignty. Why has global trade become so controversial? Does free trade deserve its bad reputations? These are the questions which inspired the writer to work against these problems. In “Free Trade under Fire”, the author discusses the misconceptions that litter the debate over trade and gives the reader a clear understanding of the issues involved. The aim of this book is to determine the effect of economic, political and legal factors on the trade policy of the United State.