Socio-economic and Socio-demographic Determinants of Women Empowerment: Empirical Evidence From the Districts of Ghizer and Gilgit, Northern Pakistan

Women empowerment has remained the most deliberate subject and many social scientists have explored this subject in their respective fields. Women empowerment has assorted dimensions, however this study focuses only on two dimensions’ women decision making and women participation. Primarily, this study constructs two indices of women empowerment which are women decision making index and women participation index based on different components computed using principal component analysis. This research uses primary data, where the data is collected from households of the respective regions using two-stage cluster sampling technique. Secondly, this paper scrutinizes the socio-demographic and economic causes of women empowerment in Gilgit and Ghizer districts of Gilgit-Baltistan using structural equation model. The scores of women empowerment indexes indicate that in terms of decision making, women of Ghizer district are more empowered as compared to Gilgit district whereas in terms of women participation women of Gilgit are more empowered. Amongst the socio-economic and demographic variables, education level shows significant and positive association with both indexes of empowerment. Correspondingly, standard of living of the household demonstrates a significant relationship with women decision making showing that the better the standard of living the more empowered will be the women. Moreover, household size shows a positive and significant relationship with women participation, having more people at home can augment the empowerment of women in terms of participation whereas asset index shows a negative association with women participation

Rural Tourism, Income and Rapid Urbanization: Exploring the Nexus Using A MultiDisciplinary Approach for Hunza, Pakistan

Serving the purpose of an early warning, this paper provides a multi-disciplinary analysis of how thechanging dynamics of tourist arrivals can lead to rapid and unplanned urbanization. The improvements in infrastructureand communication systems under the aegis of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Gilgit-Baltistan have ledto exponential increase in tourists arrival in recent years. Does this increase lead to increase in incomes and spurring anunplanned and rapid urbanization? Hunza district is taken as a case study on the basis of evidence suggesting thataround 70 percent of total tourists Gilgit-Baltistan. To explore the relationship between tourists arrival and rapidurbanization, three types of data were used: survey data collected via questionnaires, secondary data from governmentsources, and Google images, Landsat-7 and Landsat-8 from remotely sensed data. Using cross-tabulations, this studysuggests that tourists arrival led to increase in incomes, which were then spent on building commercial infrastructure.To cross check these results, land use land change study using GIS mapping was conducted for the last ten yearsperiod. It shows that rapid and unplanned urbanization has profound social and environmental implications for Hunza,if not managed properly and timely

Impact of Transport Cost and Travel Time on Trade under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

China is the second biggest economy in the world and almost 40% of its trade in 2016 is transported through the South China Sea. China needs a small, secure, and low-cost path to trade with Europe and the Middle East and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a feasible solution to this requirement. This research analyzes the effect of CPEC on trade in terms of transport cost and travel time. In addition, the study compares the existing routes and the new CPEC route. The research methodology consists of qualitative and descriptive statistical methods. The variables (transport cost and travel time) are calculated and compared for both the existing route and new CPEC route. The results show that transport cost for 40-foot container between Kashgar and destination ports in the Middle East is decreased by about $1450 dollars and for destination ports in Europe is decreased by$1350 dollars. Additionally, travel time is decreased by 21 to 24 days for destination ports in the Middle East and 21 days for destination ports in Europe. The distance from Kashgar to destination ports in the Middle East and Europe is decreased by 11,000 to 13,000 km. Document type: Articl

The Response of Land Surface Temperature to the Changing Land-Use Land-Cover in a Mountainous Landscape under the Influence of Urbanization: Gilgit City as a case study in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region of Pakistan

With growing urbanization in mountainous landscapes, the built-up areas dominate other land use classesresulting in increased land surface temperature (LST). Gilgit city in northern Pakistan has witnessed tremendousurban growth in the recent past decades. It is anticipated that this growth will exponentially increase in the nearfuture because of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiatives, as this city happens to be thecommercial hub of the northern region of Pakistan. The objective of present study is to explore the influence ofland use and land cover variations on LST and to evaluate the relationship between LST with normalizeddifference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference water index (NDWI), and normalized difference built -up index (NDBI) values. This study is carried out on data from Google earth and three Landsat images (Landsat 5-TM, Landsat 7-ETM, and Landsat OLI_TIRS-8) during the period from 1992, 2004 and 2016. Land use/coverclasses are determined through supervised classification and LST maps are created using the Mono -windowalgorithm. The accuracy assessment of land use/cover classes is carried out comparing Google Earth digitizedvector for the periods of 2004 and 2016 with Landsat classified images. Further, NDVI, NDBI, and NDWI mapsare computed from images for years 1992, 2004, and 2016. The relationships of LST with NDVI, NDBI, andNDWI are computed using Linear Regression analysis. The results reveal that the variations in land use and landcover play a substantial role in LST variability. The maximum temperatures are connected with built -up areas andbarren land, ranging from 48.4°C, 50.7°C, 51.6°C, in 1992, 2004, and 2016, respectively. Inversely, minimumtemperatures are linked to forests and water bodies, ranging from 15.1°C, 16°C, 21.6°C, in 1992, 2004, and 2016respectively. This paper also results that NDBI correlates positively with high temperatures, whereas NDVI andNDWI associate negatively with lesser temperatures. The study will support to policymakers and urban planners tostrategize the initiatives for eco-friendly and climate-resilient urban development in fragile mountainouslandscapes

Political Capacity and Corruption Nexus: Re-Examining Evidence for Developing Countries

This article examines the question of whether developing countries with strong political capacity have lower levels of corruption. Despite the ubiquity of literature on corruption, the relationship between a state’s political capacity and corruption has not been addressed by the existing academic literature. To measure the political capacity of a country, the authors have used relative political capacity (RPC), an indicator that gauges the effectiveness of governance by its ability to meet or exceed their expected extractive capabilities and its ability to implement a set of policy choices. On the one hand, politically capable and stable governments are in a position to pursue their political and economic goals, such as reducing corruption. On the other hand, a strong political capacity provides them with the opportunity for rent-seeking and corruption. This implies that a state’s strong political capacity can be either a ‘boon’ or ‘bane’ to implement a set of desired policy goals. Based on this assertion, the authors test the hypothesis of whether a strong relative political capacity increases or reduces the level of corruption. The analysis uses the ordinary least-squares and two-stage least squares methods for 98 developing countries to test the hypothesis. The findings suggest that the explanatory power of political capacity is at least as important as conventionally accepted causes of corruption, such as economic development, and democracy

Political Capacity and Corruption Nexus: Re-Examining Evidence for Developing Countries

This article examines the question of whether developing countries with strong political capacity have lower levels of corruption. Despite the ubiquity of literature on corruption, the relationship between a state’s political capacity and corruption has not been addressed by the existing academic literature. To measure the political capacity of a country, the authors have used relative political capacity (RPC), an indicator that gauges the effectiveness of governance by its ability to meet or exceed their expected extractive capabilities and its ability to implement a set of policy choices. On the one hand, politically capable and stable governments are in a position to pursue their political and economic goals, such as reducing corruption. On the other hand, a strong political capacity provides them with the opportunity for rent-seeking and corruption. This implies that a state’s strong political capacity can be either a ‘boon’ or ‘bane’ to implement a set of desired policy goals. Based on this assertion, the authors test the hypothesis of whether a strong relative political capacity increases or reduces the level of corruption. The analysis uses the ordinary least-squares and two-stage least squares methods for 98 developing countries to test the hypothesis. The findings suggest that the explanatory power of political capacity is at least as important as conventionally accepted causes of corruption, such as economic development, and democracy

Impact of Transport Cost and Travel Time on Trade under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

China is the second biggest economy in the world and almost 40% of its trade in 2016 is transported through the South China Sea. China needs a small, secure, and low-cost path to trade with Europe and the Middle East and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a feasible solution to this requirement. This research analyzes the effect of CPEC on trade in terms of transport cost and travel time. In addition, the study compares the existing routes and the new CPEC route. The research methodology consists of qualitative and descriptive statistical methods. The variables (transport cost and travel time) are calculated and compared for both the existing route and new CPEC route. The results show that transport cost for 40-foot container between Kashgar and destination ports in the Middle East is decreased by about $1450 dollars and for destination ports in Europe is decreased by$1350 dollars. Additionally, travel time is decreased by 21 to 24 days for destination ports in the Middle East and 21 days for destination ports in Europe. The distance from Kashgar to destination ports in the Middle East and Europe is decreased by 11,000 to 13,000 km

Cultural tourism and the wellbeing of local citizens:examining the mediating role of cultural conservation in Northern Pakistan

Abstract Cultural tourism is an increasingly visible trend in the tourism industry. The chapter is one of the first academic studies to specifically analyze the possible impacts of cultural tourism on the local culture itself and the wellbeing of the host community while highlighting cultural conservation as a mediator. The study utilizes primary data collected from rural areas in the Himalayan Gilgit Baltistan region in Northern Pakistan. This region has experienced a significant rise in cultural tourism due to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). As a result, there has been a significant and visible development of touristic facilities in the region. Hence, there is a visible shift from earlier tourism, which was mostly linked to mountaineering adventure, to more relatively mass cultural tourism. The results suggest that cultural conservation serves as a partial mediator and that cultural tourism tends to positively and significantly influence the host community’s wellbeing, and cultural conservation partially mediates this relationship

A Correlative Analysis of Modern Logistics Industry to Developing Economy Using the VAR Model: A Case of Pakistan

The modern logistics industry has opened new strategic perspectives in establishing its interrelation with economic growth. In recent years, understanding such an overlap has become a policy issue considering ever-increasing factors and their influence on this relation. Most existing studies have explored this interaction from a general perspective, or for developed countries. This paper explores time-series analysis of the dynamic variables and their inter-related influence in both the short and long run on the relationship between modern logistic industry and economic growth—a more specific perspective, particularly for developing countries. Accordingly, we exemplify our analysis by employing the vector autoregression (VAR) model to the most updated time series data of investment in the logistics industry and the economic growth of Pakistan from 1990 to 2018. The empirical findings endorse the previous studies’ outcomes and recognize the importance of sustainable economic development concerning continuously improving the logistics industry. However, a unidirectional relation is observed that economic growth leads to developing the logistics industry—economic growth exerts a significant demand-pull effect on Pakistan’s logistics. It implies that logistic industrial development is comparatively quicker in the geographical areas where economic growth is higher than those areas where economic growth is low. To conclude this study’s findings, logistics industry reforms should prioritize the selected geographical areas in improving the economy that would lead to the modern logistics industry’s development. As the model adopts Pakistan’s context, the overall statistical analysis can be generalized to other developing economies. These results would be of particular interest to strategy makers working in developing countries and help them design and develop modern transportation and logistics, coupled with interlinked technological factors, which would attract investment in the logistics industry for sustainable economic development

Is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor an Opportunity or a Threat for Small and Micro-Entrepreneurs? Empirical Evidence from Northern Pakistan

Are the mega-projects an opportunity or threat for micro and small firms? This question has rarely been examined in the literature. Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) have always been at the forefront, playing an important role in the development of rural economies in developing countries like Pakistan. Since the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project has been initiated, northern Pakistan (Gilgit-Baltistan) has witnessed a huge tourist inflow. As a result, the mushrooming of businesses along the CPEC route is a new phenomenon. The increasing trends in tourism inflow on one side offer new opportunities for MSEs while, on the other side, it increases the competition level among the firms. In the background, this research aims at contributing to existing academic scholarship on whether increasing competition is healthy for the growth and sustainability of MSEs or it might challenge their future progress. To examine this question, we carried out field surveys. Through questionnaires, we collected data for 280 micro and small firms operating in the tourism sector along the CPEC route. The study investigates current and future prospects of micro and small enterprises in the region, given that the CPEC is fostering tourism, which has its effects on the allied industries as well. The study relies on the Jovanovic (1982) model of firm growth and theory of market participation for its theoretical foundation and uses a logistic regression model as the estimation strategy. The findings suggest that the CPEC is not the only opportunity for tourism-related micro and small enterprises but also helpful for the growth of medium and large firms. The implications are that if MSEs could not prepare themselves to compete, there is a chance that medium and large firms would replace them. Growth of MSEs is conditional on easy access to finance and borrowings