International Competitiveness—Where Pakistan Stands?

The concept of competitiveness has been widely accepted and has become a part of discussion in world-wide forums. Today global economy cannot be explained in the same manner as it was a few decades ago. Improved competitiveness of economies is a need of the day and ability to compete in the world market is of major concern. This paper attempts to assess the position of Pakistan in the International Competitiveness. As a survey paper, the concept, definition and the measurement of competitiveness have been analysed further to assess Pakistan’s position in the region. Competitiveness is linked with export performance of other trading and non trading countries. Pakistan’s export performance is analysed in this context. Lessons for Pakistan have been drawn on the basis of experiences of emerging economies. It has been concluded that countries can strengthen their export markets with the passage of time. They need to improve the governance as well as technological progress to increase high-tech exports. Developing countries like Pakistan start from low technology and with passage of time shift to improved technologies. Technology-based activities help improving export performance that brings competitiveness of a country. The paper also suggests a model to government of Pakistan which describes that high technology exports will be a result of extensive Research and Development (R&D) using human capital as an investment in the country. The success depends upon the combined efforts of the government, individuals and business initiatives both in public and private sectors.Competitiveness, Growth Performance

International Competitiveness  Where Pakistan Stands?

The concept of competitiveness has been widely accepted and has become a part of discussion in world-wide forums. Today global economy cannot be explained in the same manner as it was a few decades ago. Improved competitiveness of economies is a need of the day and ability to compete in the world market is of major concern. This paper attempts to assess the position of Pakistan in the International Competitiveness. As a survey paper, the concept, definition and the measurement of competitiveness have been analysed further to assess Pakistans position in the region. Competitiveness is linked with export performance ofother trading and non trading countries. Pakistans export performance is analysed in this context. Lessons for Pakistan have been drawn on the basis of experiences of emerging economies. It has been concluded that countries can strengthen their export markets with the passage of time. They need to improve the governance as well as technological progress to increase high-tech exports. Developing countries like Pakistan start from low technology and with passage of time shift to improved technologies. Technology-based activities help improving export performance that brings competitiveness of a country. The paper also suggests a model to government of Pakistan which describes that high technology exports will be a result of extensive Research and Development (R&D) using human capital as an investment in the country. The success depends upon the combined efforts of the government, individuals and business initiatives both in public and private sectors.competitiveness, Growth Performance

Does Governance Contribute to Pro-poor Growth? Evidence from Pakistan

Economic growth is a driving force in reducing poverty, but experience has shown that good governance and pro-poor choices are vitally important in the process of alleviating poverty. This paper explores linkages between governance and pro-poor growth in Pakistan for the period 1996 to 2005. The analysis indicates that governance indicators have low scores and rank at the lowest percentile as compared to other countries. The dimensions of pro-poor growth, which include poverty, inequality, and growth, demonstrate that the poor do not benefit proportionately from economic growth. It is found that poverty and inequality have worsened and the share in income and expenditure for the bottom 20 percent has also decreased, while inflation for this lowestincome group is high as compared to the highest-income group. It is also observed that approximately 25 percent households reported that their economic status was worse than in the previous year, 2004-05. The results of the study show that a strong link exists between governance indicators and pro-poor growth in the country. Econometric analysis shows that there is a strong relationship between good governance and reduction in poverty and inequality. It is concluded that greater voice and accountability, political stability, regulatory quality, and rule of law can control corruption and the pro-poor policies, which ultimately reduce poverty and inequality in the long run. To face the challenge of good governance, Pakistan needs to formulate, and implement effectively, its governance policies to improve the governance dimensions, taking account of both higher growth and the aim of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, which require halving poverty by 2015.Governance Indicators, Pro-poor Growth, poverty, Inequality

Dimensions of Well-being and the Millennium Development Goals

Well-being and happiness, individually and collectively, is a main indicator of a good life. This paper attempts to implement empirically some of the multidimensional concepts of human well-being by using data from the ‘Pakistan Living Standards Measurement Survey’ 2006-07. Objective well-being index and subjective well-being index are constructed to study regional disparities in the quality of life. The results reveal that most of the top ranked districts are located in the province of Punjab which tends to indicate that Punjab is ahead of other provinces in terms of objective well-being. Sindh and NWFP districts are dominated in the category of lower medium well-being category. At the lower end of the distribution districts of Balochistan emerged in lowest category of well-being. It is observed that Punjab have highest share of population in top category of well-being while population of Balochistan gets major share in lowest category of wellbeing. It is important to note that those districts which have higher achievements in hard facts of well-being, acquire less subjective well-being in term of satisfaction. Districts of Balochistan, with least developed indicators, perception about the quality of life is evident in their lowest level of satisfaction. Since the underlying premise of the MDGs is still the concept of human development, so priorities is needed to concentrate on least developed districts for achieving the MDGs by 2015.Well-being, Objective, Subjective, Measurement, Quality of Life

Michael K. Connors, Rémy Davison, and Jörn Dosch. The New Global Politics of the Asia Pacific. (Second edition). London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. 2012. 274 pages. Price not given.

The updated edition of The New Global Politics of the Asia Pacific provides a framework for understanding the complexities of global politics in this region. The book focuses on crucial aspects such as realism, liberalism, and critical theoretical views. It sheds light on refined interpretations and covers current important issues, including security, terrorism, and the role of transnational actors. The edition is a good collection of constructive and thought-provoking papers by three authors, and serves as a useful tool for graduate students, researchers, and policymakers with which to understand political policy debates

Kemal Dervis, Masahiro Kawai, and Domenico Lombardi (eds.). Asia and Policymaking for the Global Economy. Asian Development Bank Institute, Tokyo. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2011. 200 pages, USD 19.95.

Asia and Policymaking for the Global Economy is a collection of analysis on global economic cooperation. In particular it highlights Asia’s accomplishments, opportunities, its potential, and the role it can play in the global economy. It is divided into five chapters each constituting a different insightful article. The first chapter gives an introduction and an over view of the topics analysed in this book. It focuses on the structural transformation in Asia and the world economy, and discusses the rise of Asia and implications for economic coordination at international level. The second chapter focuses on growth dynamics in Asia in a global context. It provides an important contribution to the subject issue as it analyses the sources of structural transformation experienced by world economy. It suggests that policy-makers should focus on global savings and investment structures to rebalance world economy. The rebalancing debate is then connected to the debate on the international monetary system and role of reserve currencies in this chapter

Syed Nawab Haider Naqvi. The Evolution of Development Policy: A Reinterpretation. Oxford University Press, 2010. 442 pages. Hardbound. Pak. Rs 995.00.

‘The Evolution of Development Policy: A Reinterpretation’ by S. N. Haider Naqvi is an excellent and timely discourse on development paradigms. The author lucidly traces evolution of different development paradigms and in the process not only thoroughly explains, what each paradigm stands but also critically evaluates each paradigm. The book is organised into seven parts. Part I, comprising ‘preliminaries’ gives an overview of the evolution of thinking on development policy. The analytical framework highlights the faults in the structure of development policy. To set the framework for analysing development policy, the book argues that an evolutionary perspective on development policy should be examined under three paradigms: traditional development paradigm; the liberalist paradigm and the human development paradigm. The author takes pains to describe various important aspects of this framework. The author also argues that some aspects of the traditional development paradigm have been misunderstood and in the process elucidate the subject

Unravelling Water Use Efficiency in Sugarcane and Cotton Production in Pakistan

The present Policy Viewpoint explores water use efficiency between the two competing cash crops of the Kharif season, sugarcane and cotton. It is concluded that the sugarcane crop consumes about 3.5 times more water than the cotton crop. Moreover, one litre of water used in cotton production generates about 4 times higher monetary benefit at both the farm gate and at the processing stage. Sugarcane alone consumes about 42 percent of the total annual household water demand of Pakistan. Keywords: Cotton, Sugarcane, Water Use Efficiency, Water Pricing, Pakista

Dimensions of Well-being and the Millennium Development Goals

The concept of well-being has deep roots in philosophy [Cantril (1965)]. Much later in the 19th century modern definitions of well-being emerged. The utilitarian movement defined well-being subjectively and proclaimed individuals’ well-being as an important goal of individuals’ behaviour and public policy. During the 20th century social scientists started to examine well-being empirically, but a unified concept of wellbeing was lacking. At the beginning of the 20th century, economists developed elaborate quantitative theories of well-being, but rejected the possibility that individuals’ could provide valid reports of their own well-being. In the second half of the 20th century social scientists started to develop subjective measures of well-being, and started to examine how these measures relate to demographic variables or other characteristics of individuals [Andrews and Withey (1976)]. The relationship between GDP and well-being likely depends on how rich a country is. As income increases it contributes little to overall well-being at low levels of GDP in poor country, since only a narrow segment of the population is benefiting directly. Moreover, as noted by Sen (2001) non-monetary benefits such as health and education that improve individual capabilities are often more important than income in poor countries. As the benefits of continued growth trickle down to a burgeoning middle class, social well-being rises dramatically [Torras (2008)]. It is in this context that a number of alternatives to GDP have been introduced. For example, the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) human development index (HDI) uses GDP per capita to measure “access to economic resources” in well-being assessments but accords it only one-third weight in determination of the level of human development. Although national income accounting measures may sometimes not agree with popular perceptions of trends in economic well-being, GDP per capita is one of the three main components of the HDI, whose objective is to indicate the capability of people “to lead a long and healthy life, to acquire knowledge and to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living” [Osberg and Andrew (2005)]