Causes of corruption (Part-I) on December 18, 2019Corruption has many definitions, such as the one by cleangovbiz.org: “Corruption is the abuse of public or private office for personal gain. It includes acts of bribery, embezzlement, nepotism, or state capture. It is often associated with and reinforced by other illegal practices, such as bid rigging, fraud or money laundering.” Corruption is a form […]
Plagiarism in academia — a major cause for concern on December 2, 2019Plagiarism is a very serious, common problem everywhere. Students, professors, politicians, and writers, when caught with plagiarized material in their articles, speeches, and books, are punished by being dismissed or fired from their institutions, while others admit, apologize, and move on. In one case, a faculty member who had plagiarized her dissertation not only lost […]
Pakistan’s Economy: The Emperor has no Clothes! ( part II) on November 18, 2019Anyone can control the current account deficit by shutting down the economy, but only idiots would do it not knowing that the country will go into depression causing prices to rise, revenue collection to drop, and the government deficit and unemployment to soar. These problems are not clear to the general public because of the […]
Pakistan’s economy: the emperor has no clothes! (Part I) on November 17, 2019Recent news in Pakistan’s media presents a rosy picture of Pakistan’s economy. For example, the news is that the current account deficit (i.e., the difference between import and export) went down by $259 million and imports went down by 18 percent. The excitement continued with the news that Pakistan has climbed 28 places ranking 108 […]
Role of the judiciary in economic development on November 1, 2019No judiciary decision means anything unless it is enforced effectively. An honest and sound judiciary is key to enforcement. Many believe that some technical laws can be enforced by administrative means, but a rule of law, in the primary economic sense of protecting property and enforcing contracts, requires a judiciary to resolve disputes between private […]
Pakistan’s elephant in the room: unsustainable population growth on October 12, 2019As I had stated in my article “Pakistan in Economic Danger” published in the Daily Times of Pakistan on July 5, 2019, Pakistan is either bankrupt or will be bankrupt soon. The reason for the bankruptcy is Pakistan’s tremendous debt, to which the government is continually adding more by deficit spending. Further, the current government […]
Pakistan in Economic Danger on July 5, 2019The PM of Pakistan has created the Economic Council to find solutions to the tremendous debt Pakistan has accumulated over its life, especially during the last ten years of democratic governments. The total debt as of 2018 was Rs. 33 trillion ($201 billion at the current exchange rate) of which Rs. 3.4 trillion was borrowed […]