Hafiz A. Pasha

The economic cost of power outages in the industrial sector of Pakistan

Abstract This paper quantifies the economic cost of power outages in the industrial sector of Pakistan: first, by extending the methodology developed by Munasinghe and Gellerson [7,8] and Sanghvi [11] to allow for long-run adjustments by firms to outages like investment in generators and renegotiation of labour contracts with flexible timing provisions; and second, by incorporating multiplier effects on other sectors. Variation in anticipated and unanticipated outage costs per kWh by type of industry, firm size and location are highlighted by analysing data collected from a nationwide sample of 843 industrial units. A set of policies is derived for pricing and load management in the short run and investment in energy generation in the medium run.

Demand for Housing Attributes in Developing Countries: A Study of Pakistan

The paper has applied a conventional framework of analysis of implicit markets to determine the characteristics of demand for housing attributes of quantity and quality in the urban areas of a large, low-income developing country like Pakistan. Income elasticities generally appear to be low, although somewhat higher for indicators of quality. Own-price elasticities are high while the cross-price effects with respect to different attribute prices reveal the high degree of substitutibility among these attributes. Methodological innovations in the paper include the use of a weighted factor score for the measurement of housing quality and incorporation of the effect of changes in non-housing prices on demand for housing attributes. Given the large magnitude of own-price effects and the negative impact of a rise in non-housing prices, it appears that in the face of slow growth in real incomes and double-digit inflation in Pakistan residential overcrowding conditions are likely to worsen over time.

Housing Demand in Developing Countries: A Case-study of Karachi in Pakistan

This paper analyses the characteristics of housing demand in the formal and informal housing markets of a large metropolitan city (Karachi) in a developing country (Pakistan) with low per capita incomes. While results of earlier research are confirmed in the case of the formal housing market, the explanatory power of the conventional housing demand specification is very limited in the informal sector. This is attributed to the impact of outward remittances by migrants, imperfections in the housing credit market, the low level of provision of public goods and differences in housing preferences.

Comparative Statics Analysis of Urban Land Values in the Presence of Government Regulation

The paper undertakes comparative statics of urban land values in the presence of government regulation of density or rent in the central city or at the periphery. The principal finding is that the conclusions of Wheaton (1974) regarding the flattening of the rent curve due to a rise in income or its steepening following an increase in transport cost need not always hold in the presence of such regulation. Results of the comparative statics are used to derive practical implications for individual real estate investors and for urban planning.

Comparative statics analysis of density controls

Abstract The general similarity of the results of comparative statics in a semiclosed and in a fully closed city have been demonstrated by Pines and Sadka ( Journal of Urban Economics 20 , 1–20, 1986). The objective of this paper is to determine if the consequences of different forms of public regulation of the urban land market are also invariant with respect to the type of city. The conclusion is that while there are well-defined consequences of such controls on metropolitan area and land values in a semiclosed city, the impacts in a fully closed city are generally ambiguous. Therefore, proposals for the introduction of zoning and density regulation have to be city-specific and take into consideration the pattern of land ownership and the extent of leakage of urban land rent income.

Excess Burden of the Property Tax: the Open Jurisdiction Case

This article derives the general expression for the excess burden of the property tax in an open jurisdiction. The resulting expression corresponds to the loss of revenues resulting from the decline in structures and from contraction of city size. Also, it appears that if the land is municipally owned then there is no case for the imposition of the property tax. Simulations reveal that the marginal excess burden to revenue ratio rises exponentially and is sensitive to parameters like income level, nature of housing preferences, technology, and so on.

Housing for Temporary Residents: A Study of Pilgrims to Makkah

Pilgrims to Makkah in Saudi Arabia have a strong preference for locating in the central area of the city, in proximity to the Haram (a mosque). Available evidence suggests that this has led to considerable overcrowding and congestion. The objective of this paper is to identify the scope for decentralising the location of such temporary residents. In this connection, a model of seasonal housing markets is set up to study the impact of different projects on the spatial distribution of residents and on the welfare levels of consumers and producers of housing. Within the framework of the model, the economics of two specific housing and transportation proposals for dispersing pilgrims away from the center of the city is examined.

Seasonal Housing Markets: The Pilgrimage to Mecca:

This paper sets up a model of housing markets with a seasonal peak in demand. Rent levels, rent gradients, consumption of housing services, and the spatial distribution and density of population are derived for peak and off-peak periods under conditions of intertemporal locational equilibrium and spatial market equilibrium. The model is empirically applied to the city of Makkah (Mecca) in Saudi Arabia, where during the annual pilgrimage the resident population trebles and housing expenditure increases six times.