SochBichar

This episode is dedicated to the architects of Planning commission and the early growth model in Paksitan: Zahid Husain and Said Hasan 

We return to the subject of growth with Atif Mian, one of Paksitan's brightest economists. He now holds that Theodore Wells Professorship at Princeton. 

Like we argued in our earlier episode (number 4) growth underlies everything and is an important subject that we must understand better. We will keep returning to this subject with Paksitan's key economists to share with you as many informed opinions as we can. 

Today it is a pleasure to welcome one of Pakistan's brightest young economists Atif Mian who has achieved a chaired professorship in Princeton and written an excellent book entitled "House of Debt."

Everyone must listen to Atif on this important subject. We certainly hope that even policymakers will listen and learn. 

Questions addressed are:

How has Paksitan grown in comparison to its peers?

What has kept Pakistan back?

Is the policy of "hardware development" (aid backed megaprojects) going to deliver the required growth acceleration?

How important is the "software" (institutions, rights etc) of growth?

We hope you will listen and discuss these issues and influence our policymakers with some new thinking from our best young minds

Anjum and Nadeem discuss economic research in Paksitan. Questions examined are:

What is driving research? 

How relevant has it been to the larger problems facing Paksitan?

Is research affecting policy?

Where is the demand for research? 

Where is research funding? 

Does the funding drive research issues and agenda?

Should the government define a role for itself in research? 

Should the government fund more research?

We discuss with Farooq Suleria a Scholar teaching at SOAS his research on corruption. The discussion focusses on how to define and study corruption. 

Should we really be worried about mere bribe-taking or should the use of money to win government favors and shape government policy also be included? 

Is the business of ranking and measuring corruption biased to making poor countries appear more corrupt than they are?

Is it mere lack of institutions and poor governance that is being measured as corruption? 

Legalized corruption is seldom discussed. Is that why the west appears less corrupt since rentsseking has been legislated? 

Various types of corruption are discussed. 

This is a topic that affects Pakistan deeply. We urge researchers to listen to this discussion and develop further research in this area.

THIS EPISODE IS DEDICATED TO DR. MAHBUBUL HAQ

Everyone is talking of the Pakistan the young country where the majority is now comprised of young people under the age of 30. 

Are we reaping the demographic dividend through harnessing the productivity and vitality of he youth. 

How do the youth see their situation?

What are their aspirations and how will they impact the country as they take an increasing share of the decision making? 

Is the education system shaping and preparing the youth for the future?

Will the economy generate the required jobs?

We talk to Adil Najam, Former Vice Chancellor of LUMS and currently Dean of  the Pardee School of International Affairs. A leading academic, Adil has done and innovative report on youth in Pakistan. Lots to learn and understand here.  

Adil's report is going to be the Paksitan Human Development report  (HDR) published by the UN. HDR was a brainchild of Dr. Mahbubul Haq, Pakistan's iconic economist.

We discuss with Khalid Mirza the founding first Chairman of the SECP the nature of financial markets, and why and how should they be regulated. 

SECP under Mirza and developed into a reputable regulatory body. We discuss how this was done. We also review regulation of SECP today and the reform necessary. 

In addition we will discuss financial crises including the global crisis of 2008 and what we learn from them.