External Market Conditions, Competitiveness, Diversification, and Pakistan’s Export Performance

Pakistan’s exports evolve broadly in line with total world imports. Accordingly, Pakistan’s share in world imports was remarkably stable during the last 20 years, ranging between a minimum of 0.12 percent in 1980 and a maximum of 0.18 percent in 1992. In 1999-2000, the share was 0.15 percent. This would suggest that Pakistan’s export performance was not worse than that of the world on average. Compared to regional competitors, however, the performance was unimpressive, especially when compared to China and Thailand throughout the 1980s and 1990s or compared to Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka during the 1990s. All these countries succeeded in achieving sustainable market share increases in total world imports. In light of the growing awareness about the importance of exports in the overall economy of Pakistan and in view of the unimpressive export performance of Pakistan vis-à-vis other countries in the region it would be interesting to study the export performance of Pakistan and analyse the possible reasons for this poor performance and see whether it is due to demand deficiency or is it something to do with the supply side of the issue.

How Do Women Decide to Work in Pakistan?

The incidence of women labour force participation is very low in Pakistan. According to the Labour Force Survey, 1999-2000 female participation rate was merely 14 percent of the total labour force. Even though average annual growth rate of female labour force participation has been increasing slightly in Pakistan; it was 4 percent in 1980-99 and has gone up to 5.1 percent during 1995-98,1 however, this rate is still very low as compared to the other South Asian countries—42 percent in Bangladesh, 41 percent in Nepal, 32 percent in India and Bhutan, 37 percent in Sri Lanka [World Bank (2002)]. This paper is an attempt to identify household related factors that lead to women participation in the economic activities. This issue has been taken up in a number of other studies.2 The innovative aspect of this paper is that it relates women’s decision to participate in economic activities with their empowerment—who makes the decision to participate in the labour force—whether it is the women themselves or others. We would like to state at the very onset that this paper is a first cut to explore the issues of women’s participation in economic activities and their and empowerment. We hope to get feedback in the conference to improve the technical aspects of this paper and explore other aspects of this issue. Some key empirical findings of this paper are that the women economic participation is significantly influenced by factors such as their age, education and marital status. The employment status of the head of the household (generally a male), presence of male member, and children of ages 0–5 are also important variables that significantly affect women’s participation in economic activities. We identified marital status, education level, family size, household’s financial status and area of residence as the main causal factors behind women making their own decisions about paid employment.

Export Diversification and the Structural Dynamics in the Growth Process: The Case of Pakistan

In the present paper we have tried to examine Pakistan’s experience with exports and growth by constructing several measures of diversification and structural change in Pakistan’s exports from a dis-aggregated data over a period of 27 years (1972-73 to 1997-98). Then using these measures we have tested a number of relationships among the structure of exports, export growth, aggregate growth, and world growth. By looking at the evolution and structural change of exports by sectors over the long run, we find a number of interesting results. First, the degree of export diversification increased sharply from 1979 and continued till 1985. After 1985, and with the return of the democracy in the country. There was a marked reduction in the export diversification and it went back to pre-1979 level. Secondly, a crude association of ‘traditionality’ with primary products and ‘non-traditionality’ with manufactured exports fails to represent Pakistan’s experience. As Pakistan emerged from an import substitution period into a period of structural change and free trade, its true comparative advantage was more visibly expressed, thus some manufactured exports declined while some primary products grew. Third, the shortrun dynamics of diversification and structural change show a marked pattern. Most change in the composition of exports has taken place during periods of boom in the domestic economy but when the world economy was experiencing a relatively recessionary period.

Export Diversification and the Structural Dynamics in the Growth Process: The Case of Pakistan

In the present paper we have tried to examine Pakistan’s experience with exports and growth by constructing several measures of diversification and structural change in Pakistan’s exports from a dis-aggregated data over a period of 27 years (1972-73 to 1997-98). Then using these measures we have tested a number of relationships among the structure of exports, export growth, aggregate growth, and world growth. By looking at the evolution and structural change of exports by sectors over the long run, we find a number of interesting results. First, the degree of export diversification increased sharply from 1979 and continued till 1985. After 1985, and with the return of the democracy in the country. There was a marked reduction in the export diversification and it went back to pre-1979 level. Secondly, a crude association of ‘traditionality’ with primary products and ‘non-traditionality’ with manufactured exports fails to represent Pakistan’s experience. As Pakistan emerged from an import substitution period into a period of structural change and free trade, its true comparative advantage was more visibly expressed, thus some manufactured exports declined while some primary products grew. Third, the shortrun dynamics of diversification and structural change show a marked pattern. Most change in the composition of exports has taken place during periods of boom in the domestic economy but when the world economy was experiencing a relatively recessionary period

External Market Conditions, Competitiveness, Diversification, and Pakistan’s Export Performance

Pakistan’s exports evolve broadly in line with total world imports. Accordingly, Pakistan’s share in world imports was remarkably stable during the last 20 years, ranging between a minimum of 0.12 percent in 1980 and a maximum of 0.18 percent in 1992. In 1999-2000, the share was 0.15 percent. This would suggest that Pakistan’s export performance was not worse than that of the world on average. Compared to regional competitors, however, the performance was unimpressive, especially when compared to China and Thailand throughout the 1980s and 1990s or compared to Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka during the 1990s. All these countries succeeded in achieving sustainable market share increases in total world imports (Figure 1). In light of the growing awareness about the importance of exports in the overall economy of Pakistan and in view of the unimpressive export performance of Pakistan vis-à-vis other countries in the region it would be interesting to study the export performance of Pakistan and analyse the possible reasons for this poor performance and see whether it is due to demand deficiency or is it something to do with the supply side of the issue

How Do Women Decide to Work in Pakistan?

The incidence of women labour force participation is very low in Pakistan. According to the Labour Force Survey, 1999-2000 female participation rate was merely 14 percent of the total labour force. Even though average annual growth rate of female labour force participation has been increasing slightly in Pakistan; it was 4 percent in 1980-99 and has gone up to 5.1 percent during 1995-98,1 however, this rate is still very low as compared to the other South Asian countries—42 percent in Bangladesh, 41 percent in Nepal, 32 percent in India and Bhutan, 37 percent in Sri Lanka [World Bank (2002)]. This paper is an attempt to identify household related factors that lead to women participation in the economic activities. This issue has been taken up in a number of other studies.2 The innovative aspect of this paper is that it relates women’s decision to participate in economic activities with their empowerment—who makes the decision to participate in the labour force—whether it is the women themselves or others. We would like to state at the very onset that this paper is a first cut to explore the issues of women’s participation in economic activities and their and empowerment. We hope to get feedback in the conference to improve the technical aspects of this paper and explore other aspects of this issue

Medical school teaching on interprofessional relationships between primary and social care to enhance communication and integration of care – a pilot study

Background: A pilot study to identify if the delivery of teaching session to medical students would have the potential to enhance communication and a culture of integration between primary and social care, ultimately improving interprofessional relationships between primary and social care. Health and social care integration is a topic of great debate in the developed world and the focus of the upcoming Green Paper by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the NHS. There is much uncertainty to how this should be done and is hindered by the various current barriers. The literature identifies that collaborative cultures encourage effective interprofessional relationships and that communication is vital to integration of primary and social care and should be established early in medical training. Materials and Method: The General Medical Council’s Outcomes for Graduates and Imperial College School of Medicine curriculum were reviewed out to identify outcomes relating to inter-professional relationships between primary and social care. The relevant year group was surveyed to identify if the learning objective was delivered. In order to determine if delivery of a teaching session on nurturing interprofessional relationships between primary and social care would be effective, it was delivered to early clinical years to measure benefits as a pilot study. This was devised of case-based scenarios derived from learning objectives developed with experienced health care professionals. A survey was administered before and after the teaching session to determine if the students felt they had improved with respect to the learning objectives. Results: The initial survey identified the majority of students found the learning objectives were not delivered. The teaching session found a statistically significant improvement in confidence to nurture interprofessional relationships between primary and social care. Conclusion: Effective interprofessional relationships between primary and social care, improving communication and collaborative cultures, can be effectively taught in medical school, to improve integration of primary and social care

The general practice perspective on barriers to integration between primary and social care: a London, United Kingdom-based qualitative interview study

Objective: There is an ongoing challenge of effective integration between primary and social care in the United Kingdom; current systems have led to fragmentation of services preventing holistic patient-centred care for vulnerable populations. To improve clinical outcomes and achieve financial efficiencies, the barriers to integration need to be identified and addressed. This study aims to explore the unique perspectives of frontline staff (General Practitioners and Practice Managers) towards these barriers to integration. Design: Qualitative study using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to obtain results. Setting: General Practices within London. Participants: 18 General Practitioners (GPs) and 7 Practice Managers (PMs) based in London with experience of working with social care. Results: The study identified three overarching themes where frontline staff believed problems exist: accessing social services, interprofessional relationships, and infrastructure. Issues with contacting staff from other sectors creates delays in referrals for patient care and perpetuates existing logistical challenges. Likewise, professionals noted a hostile working culture between sectors that has resulted in silo working mentalities. In addition to staff being overworked as well as often inefficient multidisciplinary team meetings, poor relationships across sectors cause a diffusion of responsibility, impacting the speed with which patient requests are responded to. Furthermore, participants identified that a lack of interoperability between Information Systems, lack of pooled budgets and misaligned incentives between managerial staff compound the infrastructural divide between both sectors. Conclusion: In this study, primary care staff identify intangible barriers to integration such as poor interprofessional relationships, in addition to more well-described structural issues such as insufficient funding and difficulty accessing social care. Participants believe educating the next generation of medical professionals may lead to the development of collaborative, instead of siloed, working cultures and that change is needed at both an interpersonal and institutional level to successfully integrate care

A study of KIT activating mutations in acute myeloid leukemia M0 subtype in north India

Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)-M0 is a cancer of blood-forming cells in the bone marrow. KIT gene is a receptor tyrosine kinase class III that is expressed on by early hematopoietic progenitor cells and plays an important role in hematopoietic stem cell proliferation, differentiation and survival. Mutations of KIT receptor tyrosine kinase are involved in the constitutive activation and development of human hematologic malignancies. We have designed this study aiming to identify and determine the frequency and prevalence of mutations in North Indian patients suffering from AML-M0. To perceive the KIT gene mutations, we have carried out PCR–SSCP followed by direct DNA sequencing in 50 AML-M0 cases. We have found eight cases (24.2%) with t(8;21) having 12 point mutations whereas three cases (17.6%) with inv(16) having four point mutations. The point mutation detected at exon 9 in five cases is Asp496Val. Eight different point mutations were identified at exon 11 in seven AML-M0 cases that include Lys550Asn, Tyr568Ser, Ile571Leu, Tyr578Pro, Trp582Ser and Arg588Met. Point mutations at codons Ile571Leu and Trp582Ser was found in two independent cases. Three point mutations were found in exon 17 (Leu813Pro, Lys818Arg, Val825Ala) in three AML-M0 cases. The results underline that the KIT gene appears to be most frequently mutated target in AML-M0 cases. These observations suggest that mutations in exon 11 of the KIT gene might be useful molecular genetic markers in AML-M0 and these mutations might be related to progression and clinical pathogenesis.Keywords: PCR; SSCP–PAGE; KIT; Malignant; AML-M0; Mutation

21st Century water withdrawal decoupling: A pathway to a more water-wise world?

Human demand for adequate water resources and supplies has been and will continue to be a fundamental issue in the 21st century due to rapid population growth, growing economies and globalization, and increasing water pollution, among others. Water withdrawals in regions which are already encountering scarcity will impose intensifying pressure on water resources locally and globally, threatening the achievement of long-term sustainable development targets. Decoupling has increasingly been recognized and incorporated in policy making as a way to reconcile limitless economic growth with environmental pressures. Filling evident literature gaps, the current state and projected future decoupling factors of water withdrawals in relation to GDP are assessed through decoupling and regression analyzes for 155 countries and 12 potential socioeconomic development pathway scenarios. Findings suggest that average levels of water withdrawal decoupling are moderate in 2025 but will increase throughout the century in all countries. By 2075, average water withdrawal decoupling becomes common and widespread, with high decoupling factors across the world. Yet, some countries and regions will continue to lag behind in this development. GDP growth is the most significant driver of water withdrawals. Climate and regional differences among countries are major influential factors on decoupling outcomes, more so than current country-level income group classification. Altogether, these results are of high significance to water resource managers and policy actors, offering a chance to act proactively to change the course on global water resource and country-specific development. In this way, decoupling provides a pathway to a more water-wise world