Estimating the Middle Class in Pakistan

The middle class is primarily an urban phenomenon generally associated with professional occupations, service sector and salaried jobs. Yet despite a general acceptance of the important economic, political and social role that the middle class plays in society, the term itself remains ambiguous and arbitrary. In much of recent literature the middle class is equated with middle income which does not reflect what „class‟ refers to in classical writings. The present paper takes a multidimensional approach to measure the middle class in Pakistan through a weighted composite index that takes into account all possible factors associated with the concept, including income, occupation, education, housing and lifestyle. Using the Pakistan Social and Living Measurement Survey (PSLM) 2007-08, the magnitude of the middle class in the country, as represented by the „expanded middle class‟, is estimated at around 35 percent of the total population. The proposed measure of the middle class has a sense of stability attached to it, making it less susceptible to sudden inflationary shocks than an income-based measure. JEL classification: Z13, R20, A14 Keywords: Pakistan, Middle Class, Multidimensiona

Reproductive Tract Infections among Women in Pakistan: An Urban Case Study

Reproductive tract infections (RTIs) among women—despite being common and having grave consequences—are not given much attention by policy-makers and health planners. The asymptomatic nature of most infections makes their detection and diagnosis difficult, making laboratory testing the most accurate method of bio-medical diagnosis. The present paper assesses the magnitude and nature of infections as diagnosed through laboratory testing and looks into the variation in magnitude and the nature of RTIs among women with different socio-economic and demographic characteristics. The aetiological rate of infection among women is found to be 24 percent, with the majority of these women testing positive for endogenous infections. Factors significantly increasing the likelihood of having an infection include intrauterine device use or getting a tubectomy, short inter-pregnancy intervals, and lower economic status of women.

Estimating the Middle Class in Pakistan

The concept ‘middle class’ is one of the most commonly used terms in the social sciences, including economics, sociology and political science. Despite its frequent use there is, however, no consensus on what the term exactly implies and its meaning remains ambiguous depending primarily on the context in which it is used. It is viewed as the class that is between, and separates, the lower and the upper classes, that is the rich and the poor, but there is no agreement on the exact boundaries that separates them. Most of the definitions and measurements of the middle class continue to be somewhat arbitrary and vague.

Self-reported Symptoms of Reproductive Tract Infections: The Question of Accuracy and Meaning

Verbal surveys are the most common way of gauging any population s health status, but questions remain regarding the accuracy of the responses they elicit. The present paper compares women s self-reports regarding their experiences with reproductive tract infections (RTIs) and the medical diagnosis that they went through to ascertain the presence or otherwise of the infections. Weak concordance was found between women s self-reports and the medical diagnosis, with the former over-representing the presence of infections. Some of the selfreported symptoms were pathogenic in nature, as represented by the true positive reports, but the majority of the self-reports were false positives when compared to medical diagnosis. The conventional health surveys, relying solely on verbal responses, thus, do not essentially represent the actual health situation of a population studied, and any policy intervention formulated exclusively on this information would be flawed. There is a need to understand the non-medical context of illnesses to understand the disease fully.Health, Reproductive Health, Health Surveys Accuracy

Demographic Dividend or Demographic Threat in Pakistan

Population growth and size have remained the focus of debate for centuries but the recent demographic transition in developing countries has made social scientists take note of the changing age structure of the population as well. As a result of declining population growth and consequent changes in age structure, the proportion of working-age population is increasing in most developing countries, with an associated decline in the dependent age population, offering a window of opportunity to these countries that is referred to as the “demographic dividend”. Pakistan is also going through the demographic transition, and is experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime demographic dividend as the working-age population bulges and the dependency ratio declines. This paper looks into the demographic dividend available to Pakistan and its implications for the country, mainly through three mechanisms: labour supply, savings, and human capital. For economic benefits to materialise, there is a need for policies dealing with education, public health, and those that promote labour market flexibility and provide incentives for investment and savings. On the contrary, if appropriate policies are not formulated, the demographic dividend might in fact be a cost, leading to unemployment and an unbearable strain on education, health, and old age securityDemographic dividend, age-structure, demographic transition, Pakistan

Demographic Dividend or Demographic Threat in Pakistan

Population growth and size have remained the focus of debate for centuries but the recent demographic transition in developing countries has made social scientists take note of the changing age structure of the population as well. As a result of declining population growth and consequent changes in age structure, the proportion of working-age population is increasing in most developing countries, with an associated decline in the dependent age population, offering a window of opportunity to these countries that is referred to as the demographic dividend. Pakistan is also going through the demographic transition, and is experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime demographic dividend as the working-age population bulges and the dependency ratio declines. This paper looks into the demographic dividend available to Pakistan and its implications for the country, mainly through three mechanisms : labour supply, savings, and human capital. For economic benefits to materialise, there is a need for policies dealing with education, public health, and those that promote labour market flexibility and provide incentives for investment and savings. On the contrary, if appropriate policies are not formulated, the demographic dividend might in fact be a cost, leading to unemployment and an unbearable strain on education, health, and old age security.Demographic dividend, age-structure, demographic transition, Pakistan

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The Relationship between Budget Deficit and Economic Growth of Pakistan

This study examine the impact of budget deficit on economic growth in Pakistan during the period from 1976-2007. Co integration technique, VAR Granger Causality test and vector error correction model is used. Economic growth was measured as growth in GDP. The technique of time series econometrics such as Granger Causality, Johansen co integration and error correction models has been used. Johansen co integration shows that all variables are co integrated and error correction term is also significant. However we have not found any significant impact of budget deficit on economic growth of Pakistan. The results showed that GDP cause investment and investment cause deficit. However budget deficit does not cause GDP growth. The results of this study also support Keynesian view about budget deficit. The findings also show that the budget deficit has a positive impact on the growth. Keywords: Budget Deficit, Economic Growt