Lubna Hasan

Dependency Ratio, Foreign Capital Inflows and the Rate of Savings in Pakistan

Domestic resource mobilization is one of the key determinants of sustained economic growth. The savings rate in Pakistan is sensitive to per capita income, dependency ratio, real interest rate and foreign capital inflows. Dependency ratio and foreign capital inflows exert a depressing effect on savings while income and real interest rate have a positive effect. Realistic interest rate policies in the context of liberalized financial markets are required to mobilize greater savings.

On Measuring the Complexity of Urban Living

This paper explores the concept of city ranking as a way to measure dynamics and complexities of urban life. These rankings have various dimensions and uses. Both the context in which these rankings are done, and their nature has changed considerably overtime. These rankings are also afflicted with many methodological and measurement problems. A review of major city rankings and related literature is carried out to suggest a framework for measuring Pakistani cities.

RULE OF LAW, LEGAL DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: PERSPECTIVES FOR PAKISTAN

Rule of Law and strong legal systems are considered a pre-condition for sustained development. Their relative weakness in the under-developed world is considered as the main obstacle to growth. Strengthening Rule of Law and legal systems has, therefore, become a standard advice from the developing community. Pakistan, too, has witnessed a surge in demand for Rule of Law in recent years. Capitalizing on this domestically garnered mandate, this paper reviews the legal obstacles to economic growth in Pakistan. It finds significant impediments for growth and market development due to legal shortcomings in the case of Pakistan.

Contextualizing Local Economic Development for Developing Countries

This paper explores the prospects of success of ‘Local Economic Development’ (LED) for the less developed countries. The concept had much success in the context of the developed world. The less developed countries, however, present a scenario where power and social structures present a challenging task for LED to be effective.

Cities and Quality of Life - Should We Monitor Pakistani Cities?

Around the world, national governments as well as international organization measure and monitor performance of large cities and the Quality of Life (QoL) of urban residents, to gain insights into the well-being of the citizens and the state of various amenities at city level and make informed policy decisions. There is a need to develop a system of measuring and monitoring QoL and city performance in the large urban areas of Pakistan. The paper suggests a framework for measuring quality of life in Pakistani cities

PIDE-LUMS Seminar on the New Governance Effort

Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) and Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) jointly organised a s eminar to discuss issues pertaining to “Law and Economics” and “Public Choic e”, and their relevance for the future growth prospects of Pakistan. Dr Nadeem Ul H aque, Director, PIDE, and Osama Siddique, Head, Department of Law and Policy, LUMS, highlighted the main issues in their welcome remarks, and raised some ba sic questions: Can Pakistan achieve its growth target of 10 percent under the c urrent legal framework? Does our law support free enterprise? Can the dual target of gr wth and free enterprise development be realised under our existing constitu tion? Do we need to review and make amendments to it? The high point of the meetin g was the coming together of eminent lawyers and economists (and social scientis ts) on one forum and approaching the problem from a multidisciplinary po int of view. A healthy debate followed in which some of our distinguished partici pants even turned the debate upside down by posing question as to what form of e c nomic system are we hoping for. The main issues that emerged out of this delib eration are summarised below.