Issues in Pakistan’s Economy

This challenging new account of Pakistan’s economic development sets itself two goals: to re-examine conventional wisdom about developments in Pakistan’s society and economy; and to provide facts, information and data that are not easily available, about its economy and some particular sectors. The book explodes the myth about the Pakistan economy: that it remains essentially feudal and agricultural; that liberalization and the free market are prerequisites for high rates of growth; and that government expenditure is always wasteful and inefficient. The book is not only comprehensive in its citation of available facts and figures on aspects of economic performance, but also examines the wide literature on Pakistan, relying on extensive quotation from numerous published articles and books to make sense of inadequate public data. A key strength of the book is its linkage of key aspects of economic affairs to politics and the wider society. It maintains that, while the Pakistan economy has had enviable rates of growth for many of the last fifty years, the state and public sector have failed to provide adequate services to the people of Pakistan. An important contribution of this book is to highlight and address institutional issues in the delivery of social services in Pakistan, helping to explain why high rates of economic growth have not been translated into impressive social sector outcomes.