Iqtidar Ali Shah

Bivariate cointegration between poverty and environment: a case study of Pakistan (1980–2009)

The objective of this paper is to empirically investigate a two-way statistical relationship between the agriculture environment and rural poverty. To recognise the relationship between the two variables, a time series, co-integration and Granger causality tests have been employed. Secondary data pertaining to Pakistan from 1980–2009 on rural poverty and environmental factors (such as commercial energy consumption, water availability and total cropped area) have been used for the analysis. The empirical results only moderately support the conventional view that rural poverty has a significant long-term casual effect on environmental proxies in Pakistan. The present study finds evidence of uni-directional causality between poverty and the environment in the context of the agriculture sector in Pakistan.

The growth, inequality and poverty triangle: new evidence from a panel of SAARC countries

This paper examines the impact of growth and income inequality on poverty for a panel of five selected South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries; namely, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; over the period of 1990-2008. Using Pedronis (2004) test for panel cointegration, it was found that there is a long-run relationship between poverty, growth and income inequality. The estimated long-run elasticities indicates that increase in economic growth and income inequality contributes to a fall and rise in poverty, respectively. It was also found that the impact of income inequality in increasing poverty is comparatively greater than that of economic growth in reducing poverty in SAARC countries.

Farmers Inclination to Adoption of Mobile Phone Agriculture Information and Trade Systems in Pakistan

This research studies three aspects relating to farmers readiness for the proposed mobile phone information and trade system (MAITS) namely (a) farmer readiness to adopt newly proposed mobile information and trade system (b) key factors that affect farmers mobile decision support systems (c) farmers readiness to connect with mobile enterprise networks. These were investigated using a qualitative research method. After a careful selection of a set of questions, interviews were conducted with selected farmers from four cities of Pakistan including Lahore, Faisalabad, Vehari and Khanewal. The analysis revealed that farmers readiness to embrace new mobile phone information systems requires maximum level of optimism and innovativeness along with deal of the inhibiting factors which affect the readiness state; inhibiting factors in MAITS adoption comprised of uncertainty factors and current faulty existing system services; and there has been a complete consensus among the farmers to practice MAITS along with mobile decision support system because it can help them in crop planning, farm inputs (seeds, fertilizer, sprays etc), harvesting, transporting and trading. The findings of this study will provide guidance to the relevant organizations when considering readiness and barriers towards implementing of MAITS. The results of the study will give insight to many extension service and policy makers to understand what farmers actually need.

Impact of Military Expenditure and Economic Growth on External Debt: New Evidence from a Panel of SAARC Countries

This paper examines the impact of military expenditure and economic growth on external debt for a panel of five selected AA countries including Bangladesh, India, epal, Pakistan and rilanka, over the period of 1988-2008. sing Pedroni’s (2004) test for panel cointegration, it was found that there is a long-run relationship between external debt, economic growth and military expenditure. The study finds that external debt is elastic with respect to military expenditure in the long run and inelastic in the short run. In the long run, 1% increase in military expenditure increase external debt between 1.18 % and 1.24%, while 1% increases in economic growth reduce external debt between 0.64% and 0.79%, by employed and M estimator respectively. In the short run, 1% increase in military expenditure increases external debt by 0.15%, while 1% increase in economic growth reduces external debt by 0.47 %.

Estimating Working Poverty in Pakistan Evidence from National, Rural and Urban Population

The aim of this paper is to estimate the population of working poor in the labour market in Pakistan. This study covered two different poverty ratios at two different times i.e.,

An empirical analysis of remittances-growth nexus in Pakistan using bounds testing approach

1.25 per day from 1987-2005 and official national poverty line at 2350 calorie per adult equivalent per day from 1979-2006 respectively. The main finding suggests that there are around 1.618 million working poor during 2004-05. These figures imply that around 3.7 percent of the employed persons in the Pakistan are currently living on less than

Exploring the Link between Poverty-Pollution-Population (3Ps) in Pakistan: Time Series Evidence

1.25 per day. Similarly, around 1.631 million working poor (3.4 percent of working population) in the Pakistan are living below the official national poverty line i.e., Rs. 945.45 per month in 2005-06. In rural Pakistan, there is an estimated 0.957 million working poor, with lower and upper estimates of 0.812 million and 1.102 million respectively. These figures imply that around 4.7 percent of total working poor in the rural Pakistan are currently living on less than 2,450 calories per equivalent per day. In urban Pakistan, there are an estimated 0.673 million working poor with lower and upper estimates of 0.613 million and 0.730 million respectively. These figures imply that around 2.5 percent of total working poor in the urban Pakistan are currently living on less than 2,150 calories per equivalent per day. Government should focus on working poor estimates and introduce reform packages for the working poor in Pakistan.