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On the Estimation of an Absolute Poverty Line: An Empirical Appraisal
Haroon Jamal
Published:July - Dec 2002
The fad that different studies seeking to measure poverty in a given
country often give differing results, although they apparently use the same
method and same data source, has long disconcerted both experts in the field
and the public in general. Such differences regarding poverty incidences reduce
the credibility and technical reliability of these measurements, shed doubts on
estimates of the level and evolution of poverty, and hinders inter-temporal
comparisons. That is why it is important to foster greater consensus among
researchers regarding the criteria and procedure to be used, with a view to
progressing towards a common pattern, which will make the measurements more
consistent and homogeneous, and guarantee their effective comparability. This
policy paper provides a recommended strategy for estimating an absolute poverty
line using household survey data of the years 1987-88, 1996-97 and 1998.
KEYWORDS:
Poverty, income poverty, macro perspective, poverty incidence, Pakistan.
JEL:
N/A.
An Analysis of Male Internal Migration and Its Correlation to Employment Status: Evidence from the Punjab
Muhammad Akram, Lubna Shahnaz and Surayya
Published:July - Dec 2002
Migration plays a pivotal role in the reallocation of human resources
under changing demand and supply conditions. Migration takes place when
an individual decides that it is preferable to move rather than to stay and
where the difficulties of moving seem to be less than the expected rewards.
In recent years there has been a trend of increasing migration rates. The
United Nations (2000) estimates that about 140 million persons (roughly 2
per cent of the world’s population) reside in a country where they are not
born.1
Usually migration takes place from the regions that are associated
with poverty and insecurity towards regions which offer greater security of
life, employment and basic social services. Poverty pushes people to migrate
to urban areas-the outcome, the world’s urban population approaches 2.3
billion by 1990 with 61 per cent living in the metropolitan areas of
developing countries and touches 66 per cent in 2000 (United Nations).
Within the world Asia has about 15 of the largest cities of the world and
most of them are growing at more than 5 per cent per annum. Increased
rate of natural growth, immigration and rural-urban migration might be the
causes of such a high rate of growth of urban population.
KEYWORDS:
Pakistan, Punjab, internal migration, gender, male, employment, unemployment.
JEL:
N/A.
Review Essay: The IMF and the Argentine Meltdown - What Went Wrong and the Lessons Learnt
Shalendra D. Sharma
Published:July - Dec 2002
When Carlos Saul Menem was elected Argentina’s president in May
1989, the economy was already under the punishing throes of
hyperinflation. To salvage investor confidence and stabilise the economy, the
government resorted to a desperate measure. In March 1991 the Congress
passed the “convertibility law” establishing the convertibility of the austral
(the Argentine currency since 1985) at a rate of 10,000 australes per U.S.
dollar. In January 1992, the peso replaced the austral (1 peso for 10,000
australes). Under this arrangement (a form of a currency board system),
outflows of foreign currency reserves had to be matched by reductions in
the domestic monetary base. The domestic currency could be issued only in
exchange for a specified foreign currency at a fixed rate. The convertibility
plan allowed the use of either U.S. dollars or Argentine pesos in any
transactions except wage and tax payments. Most importantly, the
peso/dollar exchange rate was pegged at one to one with full convertibility
between the two currencies. This meant that the public could go to the
Argentine central bank and exchange a peso for a dollar, or vice-versa, at
any time.
KEYWORDS:
Review essay, IMF, Argentina, discretionary lending powers, fiscal policy, meltdown.
JEL:
N/A.
Book Reviews: Frontiers of Development Economics: The Future In Perspective
Qais Aslam
Published:July - Dec 2002
The book consists of revised papers and commentary from the
symposium "The Future of Development Economics" held in Dubrovnik in
May 1999 and sponsored by the University of Zagreb and the World Bank.
Nicholas Stem has written the forward to the book.
In the Introduction: Ideas for Development, G. M. Meier notes that
" Over the past Half-Century, we have witnessed an unprecedented effort by
the international community to accelerate the development of poor
countries. This effort has been based on evolution in thinking about
economic development - its nature, its causes, and the choice of policies for
improving the rate and quality of the development process. Although the
development record exhibits many successes, there are also failures and
disappointed expectations". He further points out "No formula exists for
development. Aid alone cannot yield development".
KEYWORDS:
Book review, development economics, general economic theory, governance, institutions, regulatory policies, next generation, growth.
JEL:
N/A.
Book Reviews: Trade, Technology and International Competitiveness
Rukhsana Shah
Published:July - Dec 2002
Haque Irfan ul Ed. Trade, Technology and International Competitiveness
Economic Development Institute of the World Bank, Washington DC, 1995
pp 218.
The book deals with the issue of international competitiveness and
why developing countries need to look at this aspect of world trade in the
context of their aspirations and limitations, keeping in mind the fact that
the global economic system is becoming more and more unipolar and
sophisticated. Haque’s book consists of papers by a number of well-known
economists and policy anaylists, all of whom deal in detail with the present
scenario of world trade and the lessons learnt from the past.
KEYWORDS:
Book review, international competitiveness, technology, external environment, macro-economics, policy.
JEL:
N/A.
Foreign Capital and Economic Performance of Pakistan
Minh Hang Le and Ali Ataullah
Published:Jan - June 2002
This paper reviews the trends of two types of foreign capital
inflows, namely foreign aid and foreign private investment, to Pakistan.
Like other developing countries, the volume of foreign aid to Pakistan has
been decreasing. Meanwhile foreign private investment to Pakistan has
increased, though not as sharply as that to other developing Asian
countries. The study finds that the impacts of foreign capital, aid and
private investment on the economic performance of Pakistan have been
insignificant. This paper suggests that these consequences are due to the
inadequate development of domestic institutional structure, human capital,
and indigenous entrepreneurship.
KEYWORDS:
Pakistan, economic performance, capital, foreign capital, productivity, inflows, developing world, foreign aid, FDI.
JEL:
N/A.
Published:Jan - June 2002
Income taxes treat interest either as cost or as income. It is a cost
when borrowed funds are used to generate a taxable stream of income,
justifying deductibility. When it is an accretion to income, interest is
liable to taxation. Interest income, it may be pointed out, has been
viewed as unearned income compared with earned, wage income right
from the days of Adam Smith, furnishing the basis for higher taxation of
the former. However, the cost and income concepts are not strictly
adhered to. In the United States, the so-called tax expenditures have
resulted from these departures, first, by allowing tax deductibility
without interest being a cost of producing taxable income and, secondly,
by exempting interest income from state-local securities despite accretion
to taxable income. All these interest categories have interesting
implications for efficiency, equity, investment pattern and corporate
financial structure. The present paper seeks to spell out some of these in
the context the United States insofar as there are lessons for the debate
on riba.
KEYWORDS:
Pakistan, tax, income tax, interest, tax expenditure, consumer debt, interest as income.
JEL:
N/A.
Using Theatre as a Research Tool: Troubleshooting and Benchmarking Pakistan's Devolution Plan
Shahrukh Rafi Khan and Aasim Sajjad Akhtar
Published:Jan - June 2002
One of the most key initiatives of the military government that
assumed power in Pakistan in October 1999 is devolving power to the
grassroots level.2
The elections for the lower three tiers, (Union, Tehsil and
District) have taken place as has the elections for the pivotal post of the
District Nazim (governor). Notwithstanding expressed reservations about the
suspension of democracy, many civil society groups and donors, who had been
advocating devolution or decentralisation in the past, hoped for the success of
this initiative as one possible way for making effective the delivery of public
service to the grassroots level. While others have undertaken benchmarking
exercises to evaluate this initiative, it was thought that using theatre as a tool
would be a unique method for complementing these other initiatives.
KEYWORDS:
Pakistan, theatre, arts, grassroots, research tool.
JEL:
N/A.
Commenting on the Causal Factors Controlling Female Decision Making” A study of Female Decision Making Regarding Paid Employment: Punjab, Pakistan
Lubna Shahnaz and Zainab Kizilbash
Published:Jan - June 2002
As societies grapple with incorporating the concepts of gender
equality and gender sensitivity, female decision making is quickly losing its
designation as a peripheral issue. Indeed the United Nations Division for the
Advancement of Women in support of the Commission on the Status of
Women has been exploring the question of women and decision making for
some time. In 1997 it called upon governments to take into consideration
diverse decision making styles and to enhance the images of women in
political and public spheres [UN, (2000)].
Decision making in Pakistan, as in much of South Asia has been
regarded as a predominantly male prerogative. Although some progress, albeit
slowly, has been made in the emancipation and enhancement of women in all
areas of society, in comparison with their male counterparts, women are largely
neglected in economic, social, legal and political spheres. This can be
ascertained by the fact that only 28% of women are present in the labour force
in Pakistan in comparison with 42% in Bangladesh and 32% in India and an
average of 33% for South Asia. (Haq, 2000). Female literacy in Pakistan still
remains only 25%; representation in civil service remains a negligible 5.4%
whereas female judges in 1999 were 1.5% of the total (Haq, 2000).
KEYWORDS:
Pakistan, Punjab, female decision making, decision-making ability, poverty, household.
JEL:
N/A.
Income Inequality among Various Occupations/Professions in Pakistan-Estimates Based on Household Income Per Capita
Mehboob Ahmad
Published:Jan - June 2002
There is a long list of studies related to distribution of income in
Pakistan. Most of these have been confined to the calculation of various
measures of inequalities. These studies include Khadija Haq (1964), Bergan
(1967) Mehmood (1984), Ercelawn (1988), Ahmad and Ludlow (1969) etc.
Apart from these there are other studies including Jeetun(1978), Chaudhry
(1982), Cheema and Malik (1984) Kruijk and Leeuwen (1985), Kruijk
(1986), Kemal (1994), Jaffery and Khattak (1995), Chaudhary (1995) etc.
Jeetun (1978) in his paper concentrated on consequences of economic
growth on the level of inequality whereas Chaudhary (1982) tried to find
out the impact of the Green Revolution on income inequalities. Cheema
and Malik (1984) tried to find out the effects of different income policies
on the consumption and level of employment in Pakistan. Kemal (1994)
examined the impact of the adjustment period of Pakistan since the late
1970s on efficiency and equity. Jaffrey and Khattak, while utilising HIES
1990/91, measured and analysed inequality and poverty in Pakistan
together with their historical trends. They also analysed the phenomenon
of income inequality and poverty and their relation to the distribution of
assets and employment. Chaudhary (1995) computed and analysed income
inequality in Pakistan as well as in its provinces broken down to rural
urban level. He not only studied the extent of inequality in Pakistan but
also its change over time measured on the basis of per capita income
distribution involving households.
KEYWORDS:
Pakistan, income inequality, income, household income, Gini coefficient.
JEL:
N/A.