While Pakistan is facing a number of economic challenges since the PTI government took charge of the country’s affairs, the premier economic research think tank, PIDE has offered decade-old reports and conference proceedings as a viable solution for the swiftly deteriorating economy of Pakistan. One such report captioned, “Framework for Economic Growth — Pakistan 2020”, has been uploaded at PIDE’s official website pide.org.pk around two-weeks back. The report can be accessed from the following link: https://www.pide.org.pk/pdf/Framework-for-Economic-Growth-Pakistan.pdf An effortless web surfing revealed that this report was originally published by the International Growth Center and the Planning Commission of Pakistan in 2011. The original report is still available at the following link: https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Planning-Commission-2011-Final-Report.pdf This was indeed a project funded by the U.K Aid for which, among others, the services of Dr. Khalid Ikram were hired for preparation and finalization of this report. However, this report has been cunningly recycled by (i) adding a new forward to it and (ii) by replacing the year 2011 with 2020 on the cover page! The new foreword added above the old foreword insists on the usefulness of this report within the prevailing economic challenges. One wonders that how a document published jointly by the aforementioned two reputed organizations can be claimed by another organization after a period of nine years by tinkering the title and foreword and by putting its logo on the cover. Even stranger is the fact that PIDE works for the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives and is supposed to produce reports, briefs and guidelines rather than to recycle, claim and plagiarize the work already done by its parent ministry in a bizarre manner. Besides being tinkered and craftily presented, the report has inherent flaws that do not qualify it to be mentioned as a panacea for the ailing economy of Pakistan at the moment. At the time of its compilation in the year 2011, the said report has largely relied upon statistics and figures spanning around 1990-2007 and in some cases as old as of 1961, recorded by organizations like Asian Productivity Organization, World Bank Indicators Online and to some extent figures compiled by the Planning Commission of Pakistan. Thus, the report can be termed as a compilation of alarming figures signifying Pakistan to be lagging behind in certain areas during 2005-10. Whether this report served to change the fortune of Pakistan’s economy during the year 2011 is beyond the scope of this discussion but still one can guess that had it served the purpose at that time, the situation in 2020 would have been different! Ethically speaking, the report could have been updated by providing a recent situational analysis of the state of Pakistan’s economy and the most pressing challenges including inflation, unemployment, debt servicing and a possible way forward. Secondly, by analyzing available opportunities like CPEC and the Afghan Peace process and by offering policy guidelines that how Pakistan can exploit these opportunities to support its economy, the report would have been, to some extent, beneficial. Another glaring manifestation is the Second Edition of the book, Cities-Engines of Growth. This book was published by PIDE in 2007. The so-called “Second Edition” offers nothing new in terms of its content except an unconvincing foreword and a new cover. The rest of the book has statistics and figures as old as of the 90s and early 2000s. The second edition means substantial re-organization and addition of the latest information related to the subject matter under discussion. The disappointing fact about the “Second Edition” is that it provides no new information like population census-2017 and the actual figures of the population residing in urban and rural areas. Neither the book does take into account the most pressing challenges being faced by the residents of megacities like Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, etc. The book offers prominent papers presented at a conference, organized by PIDE in the year 2006, on the theme of Cities: the Engines of Growth. Although, the proceedings were highlighted when a book was published in 2007, yet claiming the Reprinted version (both online and in print) of the same text as a Second Edition is unprofessional and devious for a serious research institute working in the federal capital. Most of the papers are indeed short essays that cannot be considered empirical pieces rather these are whimsical and nostalgic short essays – which through the force of rhetoric — try to impose the idea on readers’ minds. At the moment, PIDE has the largest fleet of more than one hundred research staff including research economists, senior research economists – trained from international and local universities and in some instances, PIDE funded their doctoral degrees from abroad. But still, the Institute has not come forward to rescue the country from the growing economic worries of government and masses. If a leading economic think tank is recycling decade-old work of others’ and its own, by wrapping it under new apparel, then there can be no hope for institutional performance and reform in the country. Unfortunately, the culture of reading books and giving feedback is swiftly diminishing in our country and the performance of national institutions, non-government organizations and think tanks is judged by the quantity of print matter which they produce instead of quality and whether it is helpful for the policymakers or not. The writer holds a Ph.D. in Development Studies from the University of SUSSEX and is interested in Institutional reforms and accountability. She can be reached at samina.sandhoo@gmail.com