From Energy Blues to Green Energy: Options Before Pakistan

Energy crisis in Pakistan had been brewing long before it became an important national issue with the potential to significantly affect the outcome of general elections of 2013. The looming crisis of depleting non-renewable energy sources combined with a feeble economy has lent a new urgency to the search for an energy mix which is sustainable, economically viable and environmentally least hazardous. Fossil fuels with their known adverse environmental impacts dominate the current energy mix of Pakistan. The renewable energy sources remain underutilised despite being cost effective and less hazardous for the environment. A substantial amount of literature has highlighted various dimensions of existing energy sources in Pakistan with a particular emphasis on the environmental impact, the sustainability and the efficiency of various energy sources [see Asif (2009); Basir, et al. (2013); Bhutto, et al. (2012); Mirza, et al. (2009, 2008, 2003); Muneer and Asif (2007); Sheikh (2010) for example]. This study analyses the environmental impact, economic feasibility and efficiency of various energy sources subject to various economic and noneconomic constraints. Section 2 discusses energy security by reviewing various tapped and untapped energy sources besides analysing current energy mix and its future prospects. Section 3 highlights the interaction of energy use and environment. Section 4 discusses two approaches to assess the feasibility of an energy mix: disaggregated and aggregated. The latter approach makes a multidimensional comparison of all the energy sources discussed in this study. Section 5 consists of discussion and concluding remarks

Protecting the Vulnerable: The Case of IDPs in Pakistan

Vulnerability as a measure of human deprivations is a more comprehensive and value-laden term than poverty. While the poverty analysis provides a profile of the characteristics of the poor people, vulnerability analysis explains, among other factors, the role of risk in creating the dynamics that contribute to the observed poverty level. Social protection is an important concept in the policy dialogue on the vulnerabilities of the people and is aimed at finding ways to help the vulnerable people in managing the risks and becoming less susceptible to the welfare losses. Vulnerability takes a number of forms and requires different types of social protection mechanisms. This paper analyses the vulnerabilities of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Pakistan and identifies the social protection delivered by various government and non-government stakeholders. The paper also reviews the literature on the vulnerabilities of the IDPs in different parts of the world to explore the best practices in providing social protection to IDP

Democracy, Inequality and Economic Development: The Case of Pakistan

In this paper, we made an attempt to understand the costs and benefits of democracy for economic growth in Pakistan by analyzing the relationship between democracy and its various measures. Using instrumental variables and RALS (rth-order autoregressive least squares) estimation techniques, it is shown that during the period 1972-2005, there is only a tenuous and uncertain relationship between democracy and fiscal policy variables like expenditures, revenues and deficit; whereas democracy has no impact at all on the income inequality. Moreover, we observed that the political rights had a significant negative impact on fiscal expenditures, suggesting that with an increase in political rights, the governing institutes begin to feel themselves more accountable and as such are more circumspect in expenditures.Democracy; Political Rights; Fiscal Expenditures; Economic Growth; Income Inequality; Well-Being

Protecting the Vulnerable: The Case of IDPs in Pakistan

Vulnerability as a measure of human deprivations is a more comprehensive and value-laden term than poverty. While the poverty analysis provides a profile of the characteristics of the poor people, vulnerability analysis explains, among other factors, the role of risk in creating the dynamics that contribute to the observed poverty level. Social protection is an important concept in the policy dialogue on the vulnerabilities of the people and is aimed at finding ways to help the vulnerable people in managing the risks and becoming less susceptible to the welfare losses. Vulnerability takes a number of forms and requires different types of social protection mechanisms. This paper analyses the vulnerabilities of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Pakistan and identifies the social protection delivered by various government and non-government stakeholders. The paper also reviews the literature on the vulnerabilities of the IDPs in different parts of the world to explore the best practices in providing social protection to IDP

How does quality of governance influence occurrence of crime? A longitudinal analysis of Asian countries

Though the theoretical relationship between governance quality and crime is clear, there is no clear understanding regarding the specific characteristics of governance quality which prevent crime. To be specific, which type of crime is affected by which aspect of the governance quality is not clear. We propose to take a set of Asian countries and analyze the effect of quality of governance on the crime rates in these countries during the period of 1984 to 2014. Quality of governance is proxied by a set of indicators which include government stability, corruption, accountability, socioeconomic conditions and law and order, internal conflict, external conflict, military in politics, investment profile, religious tensions, ethnic tensions and bureaucratic quality. The types of crime analyzed in this study include homicide, burglary, robbery and kidnapping. Some economic variables like poverty, income inequality, unemployment, GDP growth and per capita GDP are used to control for the effects of governance quality on crime. We estimate the relationship by applying fixed effect model and random effects model. We also use System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) method to check the issues of endogeneity. The results showed that socioeconomic conditions, corruption, law and order, external conflict, investment profile and ethnic tensions are significantly related with different categories of crime such as homicides, robbery, kidnapping and burglaries. Among different economic variables, only per capita GDP and income inequality had a significant negative relationship with homicides

Democracy, Inequality and Economic Development: The Case of Pakistan

In this paper, we made an attempt to understand the costs and benefits of democracy for economic growth in Pakistan by analyzing the relationship between democracy and its various measures. Using instrumental variables and RALS (rth-order autoregressive least squares) estimation techniques, it is shown that during the period 1972-2005, there is only a tenuous and uncertain relationship between democracy and fiscal policy variables like expenditures, revenues and deficit; whereas democracy has no impact at all on the income inequality. Moreover, we observed that the political rights had a significant negative impact on fiscal expenditures, suggesting that with an increase in political rights, the governing institutes begin to feel themselves more accountable and as such are more circumspect in expenditures

Does foreign aid with political strings dampen or heighten growth? An analysis of aid-growth nexus in Pakistan

Pakistan has received around 1.3 billion dollars (current US$) on an annual basis from 1972 to 2014 in the form of bilateral and multilateral aid. While Pakistan’s per capita GDP (current US$) rose from 152 US$in 1972 to 1,315 US$ in 2014, the world per capita GDP increased from 979US$to 10,755 US$ in the same period. A lot of empirical evidence suggests that the aid coming from the countries that attach political and strategic strings with the aid fails to contribute to economic growth significantly. Using data for the sample period 1972 – 2014 and employing the Vector Error Correction (VECM) estimation method, we find that aggregate official development aid has a significant and positive long-run impact on the GDP per capita. A 1% rise in aggregated Official Development Assistance increases Pakistan’s GDP per capita by 0.75%. We also find that bilateral aid from very few countries such as Belgium, UK, and the US has a significant long-term impact on Pakistan’s GDP. Additionally, we fail to accept the hypothesis that aid coming from some countries with political and geostrategic strings has any adverse impact on the GDP per capita of Pakistan in the long run. Regarding the impact of different components of aggregate aid on Pakistan’s GDP per capita, we see mixed effects. The results show that a 1 % increase in both Official Development Assistance (ODA) and technical cooperation decreases GDP per capita by 1.55% and 1.063%, respectively. Conversely, a one percent increase in grants leads to an increase of 2.71% in Pakistan GDP per capita in the long run. As Pakistan’s economic problems have considerably deepened in recent years because of a variety of factors including Covid-19, Pakistan has been actively looking for economic bailouts from the IMF and other bilateral partners. This study is expected to provide important insights regarding the components of aid and their implications for economic growth

Prevalence and determinants of caesarean delivery in Punjab, Pakistan

Background: Caesarean section (C-section) is a life-saving obstetric procedure that reduces maternal mortality and improves reproductive health. Although, vaginal delivery is still an important safe and low-cost method of delivery, C-section is sometimes performed when it is not even required, which creates health challenges for pregnant women and their newborn infants. Aims: To estimate the effect of a set of institutional, demographic, socioeconomic and spatial variables on C-section delivery (n = 2424) in Punjab, Pakistan. Methods: We used data from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey Punjab 2014 and multiple logistic regression analysis. Analysis was carried out using STATA version 12. Results: Higher maternal age at first marriage, higher number of antenatal care visits, and higher wealth quintiles were associated with higher risk of C-section. Women in Punjab were more likely to deliver through C-section in private health facilities and there was no significant difference between urban and rural areas. There was a significant difference in the risk of C-section in different divisions of Punjab, for example, DG Khan and Rawalpindi showed the lowest risk compared with the reference division of Bahawalpur, which is partially explained by the developmental disparities and access to public healthcare facilities. Conclusions: The government should facilitate access to healthcare facilities in areas that are easily accessible, especially, to rural women

Connotative Confluence: Imagery and its functions in Shakespeare’s King Lear

Written in the early 1600s, King Lear, an early modern tragedy with the human condition as its main premise, displays Shakespeare’s effective exploitation of complex imagery. Through various images and extended or long drawn out metaphors, Shakespeare not only comments on character, plot, action, man’s position in the universe in relation to Nature, offspring and siblings, but also addresses such questions as political legitimacy, treason, treachery, aristocracy and the relationship between land and the monarch. In a turbulent period marked by strict rules against commenting directly on politics and royalty even in the parliament, imagery also serves as advice for the monarch in the tradition of speculum principis i.e., mirror for princes literature. This paper discusses the effect and manifold functions of various imagistic techniques used in King Lear and how imagery as a stylistic tool helps the playwright to substantially expand the meanings of the play making it a timeless and universal reading not only for the learners of Literature, but also for historians, psychologists, political scientists, philosophers, economists and food theorists, to mention only a few

Divisive and inegalitarian? Economic and social outcomes of public, private and faith-based education in Pakistan

Pakistan follows a diverse educational system consisting of three different tracks (public, private, and faith-based Madrasah education) with often conflicting objectives. As national cohesion has remained an elusive goal in Pakistan, it is important to know if there are systematic differences in the way graduates from different educational tracks access available opportunities. Using Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) survey data 2013-2014, we find that graduates from three tracks face different occupational choices and economic outcomes after their transition to the labor market and systematically differ with respect to the inter-generational transmission of educational and occupational opportunities. Additionally, we analyzed if graduates from the three educational types differ with respect to their socializing skills. Using the ‘sum-score’ approach to estimate the social exclusion, we found that graduates from private and Madrasah educational systems are the least and most socially excluded respectively