Jamil Nasir

One of the case studies in the course of political economy at Columbia University during my degree programme was about the city-state of Singapore. This study primarily focused on the economic policies of Lee Kuan Yew, the founding leader of Singapore, who breathed his last on March 23, 2015 at the age of 91. During […]

We, as a nation, are estimated to have consumed 20 tonnes of heroin at a street price of $ 400 million during a period of just one year according to a report titled ‘The global Afghan opium trade: a threat assessment’, released recently by the UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Undeniably, Pakistan has […]

Governance and human development are closely intertwined as sustainable human development is almost impossible without good governance. No doubt, income plays a fundamental role, as argued by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, in facilitating the access of individuals to opportunities and capabilities. However, the relationship between income and capabilities is neither automatic nor constant, meaning good […]

The UK Bribery Act 2011 that has come into operation on July 1, 2011 after a difficult birth has introduced several provisions that provide meaningful insights for tackling corruption from the supply side. For the first time the corporations will face prosecution if they fail to prevent its staff or agents based anywhere in the […]

A baby girl born in South Asia starts her journey of life with acute disadvantages due to the prevalence of deep-rooted gender discrimination in the region. Professor Alesina of Harvard with his two other colleagues has recently come up with evidence that suggests that gender discrimination is as old as the horse and plough. Further, […]

Corruption and poverty rise and fall together. It is not a coincidence that the countries who sit at the top in terms of the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) are the ones that are also badly mired in poverty. Exceptions are there but few and far between. Generally a clear and consistent pattern is discernible between […]

The composition of aid indicates that it has skewed towards security-related aid especially in the past one decade, implying that it is not the people of Pakistan who are the direct beneficiaries of US aid. The aid money does not stay with the people of Pakistan. It is either dissipated in the air as the […]

The Pakistan-US marriage of convenience in the aftermath of the Osama bin Laden (OBL) episode is strained, though efforts are underway on the diplomatic front to heal the fractured relations. However, rest assured that divorce is a remote possibility. The fact of the matter is that Pakistan has never been a trusted ally of the […]

The matter of Reko Diq is under adjudication in the apex court. The verdict on, interalia, the bonafides of the award of a contract to the Tethyan Copper Company (TCC), a Canadian consortium, for exploring reserves of gold and copper in Reko Diq will be pronounced by the honourable court in due course after analysis […]

Public sector enterprises (PSEs) in Pakistan devoured about $ 3 billion during the fiscal year 2010. Their annual operational losses amount to about 1.5 percent of the GDP. The subsidies doled out to the loss-incurring PSEs constitute about two-thirds of the annual defence budget of Pakistan. In this background, the government decided to constitute a […]