The spectrum of intergenerational social mobility in the 21st century on January 2, 2021Upward social mobility is a moral and economic challenge for our rulers and policymakers. It is appalling if a child in the 21st century says that s/he is poor because his/her parents are poor. Children in more than 25%of the total Pakistani households, especially those below the poverty line, do not even have the opportunity […]
Strings attached to top aid receiving countries on February 14, 2020A fundamental issue that continues with aid dependent economies, in most of the underdeveloped countries, is that they are usually supply driven. Local desires and requirements are generally not taken into account, and much of the so-called development is imposed in a top-down fashion. The expectations from foreign aid in recipient countries are hardly fulfilled; […]
Reconciling the teaching of economics on December 23, 2019Affiliation of faculty with different schools of thought in economics and their teaching techniques often pose challenges on each other. Every year, the annual conference of the American Economic Association dedicates several sessions on the teaching of economics to under and postgrad students in American universities and beyond. Last week, I had a very interesting […]
Dying hope for think tanks in Pakistan: something is not right on November 28, 2019Every elected government tries to find the solutions of the societal problems to keep their voters’ expectations. Bureaucracies hardly invent new ideas; they are inherently unimaginative and rely on routine processes. People are more interested in the social change and clear economic and political direction. Neither bureaucracy nor politicians can do it. In today’s complex […]
Wellbeing of our children on November 17, 2019Pakistan’s commitment toward Sustainable Development Goals, if nothing else is making us realize the significance of maintaining the data for record and keeping us informed about the progress on a few fundamental indicators like poverty, education and wellbeing. The third goal in 2030 agenda is ensuring good health and wellbeing at all ages. SDGs agenda […]
Where has all the research gone? on November 8, 2019According to SCImago, a publically available portal to analyse the scientific knowledge, Pakistan published 1493 papers in 2001 and this number increased to 20548 in 2018. Pakistan was ranked at 51st position in 2001 and almost after two decades the country is ranked at 38th position. Pakistan is now ahead of many countries like New […]
The University of Balochistan in tatters on November 3, 2019In recent years, many issues have been raised in different institutions of Balochistan, regarding governance, the poor state of law and appointments on merit. However, the recent incident of harassment in which the University Management seemed to be involved outstripped every previous issue. This event saddened me as an alumnus because I can’t compare the […]