A Search for an Optimum Currency Area Partners for Pakistan

This paper empirically examines the existence of a common trend between the exchange rates of Pakistan and four regional countries (Bangladesh, India, Saudi Arabia, and Sri Lanka) with two of their major trading partners (the United States and Japan) as base countries. Results from cointegrating analysis show that the strongest evidence points to the existence of common stochastic trends between the Pakistani rupee, on the one hand, and the Bangladeshi Taka and the Sri Lankan rupee, on the other hand. There is no strong evidence for the existence of a common stochastic trend between the Pakistani rupee and the currencies of India and Saudi Arabia. Optimum Currency Area (OCA) theory seems to justify the formation of a currency union between Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The case of a currency union between Bangladesh and Pakistan is strengthened by a shared political past and a shared history of financial institutional development. The immediate impact of the formation of such union on Pakistan’s GDP growth will however be insignificant.Currency, pakistan

Social Democratic Reform Proposals and the Future of Capitalism

This paper seeks to present an analysis of some issues raised in the debate on the future of capitalism by influential social democrats in recent years [Agleitta (1999); Habermas (1999); Rorty (1998)]. We begin with a brief description of capitalism's genesis, its characteristics and its need for moral legitimising and proceed to a slightly more extended discussion of capitalist processes at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The paper concludes with an assessment of initiatives proposed by social democratic thinkers such as Agleitta, Habermas and Rorty to strengthen capitalism and realise social democratic objectives—the universalisation of freedom and the promotion of liberal justices in rights centric societies.

Skill Formation Strategies for Sustaining 'The Drive to Maturity' in Pakistan.

This paper outlines some problems in the articulation of a national skill formation strategy seeking to sustain ‘the drive to maturity’ of the Pakistan economy. We examine the thought of two economists—Adam Smith and Amartya Sen—to identify market-, society-, and state-related skills that they theorise as necessary for sustaining an economy’s ‘drive to maturity’. We then briefly outline Michel Foucault’s social theory to contextualise these skill formation paradigms within the institutional structure characteristic of mature capitalism. We argue that integration within global capitalist order leaves little room for the articulation of such a skill formation national strategy. Pakistan is therefore likely to share the fate of the majority of the under-developed countries which are experiencing de-skilling and detechonolgising

Technological Capability Building in South Korea: Some Lessons for Pakistan

Recent economic upheavals raise important questions about the nature of the transformation that has taken place in the East Asian economics. Are these economics really catching up with the West? Is there growth process sustainable? Or will they suffer the type of systemic disintegration experienced by the East European countries during the 1990s—Paul Krugman (1994) and Young (1994) had demonstrated similarities in the East Asian and East European growth paths some time ago. Technological upgrading is an important element in the development of a sustainable growth strategy. This paper seeks to describe policies and initiatives taken by the South Korean government to stimulate technological learning during 1960–1990—the decades during which the South Korean economy achieved a “miraculous” transformation. The description relics mainly on Korean sources and is based on our own field research in that country. Section one describes the technological learning processes and Section Two presents a discussion of the policies that facilitated this learning. Section Three briefly addresses the question: Did this type of technological learning make a contribution towards enhancing the sustainability of Korean development processes? The concluding section briefly reflects on the lessons that seem relevant for Pakistan.

Enduring Resilience of Capitalist Power: The Role of Capitalist Education as a Technology of Governance

Capitalism has experienced several crises since its emergence but its present global dominance apparently remains unassailable. This paper argues that capitalism’s resilience is grounded in the systemic hegemony of capitalist individuality—an individuality, committed to freedom as an ultimate end and seeking abundance in this world. It has been argued that the successful manufacturing of capitalist subjectivity is significantly dependent on the inculcation of capitalist values to the subject of capital through capitalist education. Section one focuses on freedom as capitalism’s telos and sketches the historical emergence of capitalist subjectivity formed by processes of capitalist governance. Section two investigates the formational role of capitalist education as a technology of capitalist governance. It analyzes capitalist education as a means for the construction of capitalist individuality. Section three argues that capitalism’s main antagonists, especially Marxist socialism, cannot effectively challenge capitalist hegemony in the lifeworld or at the level of the state because they (i.e. main antagonists) endorse freedom (the core capitalist value) as an ultimate end in itself. Socialism does not propose to alter the subjectivity of an individual that the capitalist education constructs

A Search for an Optimum Currency Area Partners for Pakistan

The Indian government has on several occasions advocated the idea that a common currency area be formed in the SAARC region. The response from other member countries has been somewhat lukewarm. They are unconvinced that the benefit of currency union establishment will outweigh the cost emanating from the abandonment of national monetary sovereignty. This paper seeks to empirically investigate the feasibility of a common currency area for Pakistan with each one of the following countries; India, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka. This empirical investigation involves estimation of the co-variation of the bilateral real exchange rates using the Japanese Yen and the US dollar as base currencies. Section 2 begins with an eclectic overview of the Optimum Currency Area (OCA) literature. Section 3 presents the estimation methodology, Section 4 discusses the findings and Section 5 concludes the analysis

Social Democratic Reform Proposals and the Future of Capitalism

This paper seeks to present an analysis of some issues raised in the debate on the future of capitalism by influential social democrats in recent years [Agleitta (1999); Habermas (1999); Rorty (1998)]. We begin with a brief description of capitalism's genesis, its characteristics and its need for moral legitimising and proceed to a slightly more extended discussion of capitalist processes at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The paper concludes with an assessment of initiatives proposed by social democratic thinkers such as Agleitta, Habermas and Rorty to strengthen capitalism and realise social democratic objectives—the universalisation of freedom and the promotion of liberal justices in rights centric societies

Technological Capability Building in South Korea: Some Lessons for Pakistan

Recent economic upheavals raise important questions about the nature of the transformation that has taken place in the East Asian economics. Are these economics really catching up with the West? Is there growth process sustainable? Or will they suffer the type of systemic disintegration experienced by the East European countries during the 1990s—Paul Krugman (1994) and Young (1994) had demonstrated similarities in the East Asian and East European growth paths some time ago. Technological upgrading is an important element in the development of a sustainable growth strategy. This paper seeks to describe policies and initiatives taken by the South Korean government to stimulate technological learning during 1960-1990—the decades during which the South Korean economy achieved a “miraculous” transformation. The description relics mainly on Korean sources and is based on our own field research in that country. Section one describes the technological learning processes and Section Two presents a discussion of the policies that facilitated this learning. Section Three briefly addresses the question: Did this type of technological learning make a contribution towards enhancing the sustainability of Korean development processes? The concluding section briefly reflects on the lessons that seem relevant for Pakistan

Skill Formation Strategies for Sustaining ‘The Drive to Maturity’ in Pakistan

Skill formation is a multi-faceted process. Skills are necessarily (by definition) instrumental—i.e. means for the achievement of a metaphysically defined objective. In Modernity,1 this metaphysical presupposed ‘rational’ purpose of existence (both individual and societal) is freedom [Kant (2001)]. In the history of Modernity, the primary source of the growth of freedom has been capital accumulation.2 A nation committed to Modernity (‘Enlightened Moderation’) is necessarily committed to articulating a skill formation strategy which can transform ‘human being’ into ‘human capital’. This transformation requires three distinct types of skills: individual, communitarian and political. This is because capitalism is not just a ‘lifeworld’ in the Habermasian sense but a system [Foucault (1976)]. Capitalist individuality requires a prioritisation of the preference for preference itself (‘choice’) over all preferences. This is necessary for the internalisation of capitalist norms (the commitment to profit/utility maximisation and competition to achieve this end). Capitalist individuality must also posses the skills which allow it to rationally identify and pursue its interest in the market and in the firm. It must also have the selfdiscipline to function as a diligent and co-operative participant in the capitalist work process