Of children and their labour
Policymakers in our country often allude to the youth bulge which is supposedly going to be harnessed to enable Pakistan to achieve impressive levels of growth in the coming years. Pakistan could...
View ArticleEnsuring labour rights
Economic participation is theoretically supposed to provide decent work opportunities to improve the lives of the workforce, which is the driving force behind the dizzying levels of current global...
View ArticleTainted global supply chains
The modern global economy is increasingly interconnected through global political and financial structures, which have been able to increase global productivity manifold. However, these emergent...
View ArticleReparations rather than aid
Conspiracy theorists who are always finger-pointing at the West for all maladies afflicting the developing world can be readily brushed aside for presenting simplistic world views or failing to...
View ArticleMicrofinance: an overrated solution
Is providing financial services at high interest rates to poor people a good idea or a bad one? International development agencies like the World Bank think it is perhaps one of the most useful tools...
View ArticleFinancing the humanitarian aid gap
Since the Second World War, the international community has built up a mammoth infrastructure for disbursing financial and technical aid across the world. However, the world’s international aid system...
View ArticlePhilanthropic impulses of the rich & famous
With former sportsmen, singers and even real estate tycoons turning into philanthropists, we in Pakistan are not unfamiliar with the phenomenon of celebrities and successful entrepreneurs embracing...
View ArticlePot calling the kettle black?
With Pakistan ranked the 53rd most corrupt country out of 168 countries in the world, Pakistani officials are elated that the international NGO, Transparency International (TI), has found Pakistan to...
View ArticleWhy breastfeed?
Countries which have not yet been able to provide basic health facilities to their populace usually struggle with high mother and child mortality rates. Pakistan is no exception, given our alarmingly...
View ArticleReassessing our counter-narrative
It has been well over a year since the Army Public School attack, which prompted the government to announce the National Action Plan (NAP) to combat terrorism. The NAP aimed to use a comprehensive...
View Article‘Tied aid’ is better than no aid
The shortest answer to the question of whether it is a good idea for European nations to scale back their international aid commitments to meet the costs of hosting the influx of refugees into their...
View ArticleWhat’s in a definition?
For countries like our own, which are amongst the largest recipients of international development aid, it is surprising to see no attention given to a recent shift in the very definition of what...
View ArticleRethinking Urdu’s hegemony
The status of Urdu became a marker for Muslim identity in the pre-partition Indian subcontinent, and helped legitimise the Two-Nation Theory, based on which Pakistan was created. However, the continued...
View ArticleIs Trump capitalising on neoliberalism’s failure?
The popularity of Trump, despite his crass political rhetoric, is not only baffling to the larger international audience, who are following the race for the White House, but has also become a source of...
View ArticleAfghan opium resurgence and us
Since 9/11, the lingering turmoil in Afghanistan has led to a steady growth in opium production, and now our neighbouring country has become the largest supplier of illegal opium in the world. Massive...
View ArticleRegulating corporate behaviour internationally
Developing countries under pressure from international donors, and desperate to earn some revenue from foreign direct investment, continue falling over themselves to invite multinational corporations...
View ArticleCan Punjab’s farmers be made progressive?
This past week, the chief minister of Punjab wrote an op-ed for this paper, elaborating on his vision for boosting agricultural productivity in Punjab. The need for focusing on the agriculture sector...
View ArticleNeed we fear Sanders’ trade vision?
The primary race for the Democratic contender for the US presidential elections is becoming increasingly intense. While nowhere as divisive as what is going on in the Republican camp, it is interesting...
View ArticleTrickling down or siphoning off?
While only a fraction of the Mossack Fonseca files have become public knowledge, the ramifications of the Panama Papers have already created quite a stir. Pakistan, of course, is also very much...
View ArticleOur new poverty estimate
Poverty is easy enough to recognize by those who experience its multidimensional deprivations on a daily basis, or even by those who invariably confront its glaring pervasiveness. However, measuring...
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