Tariff reforms
Theoretically speaking, high import tariffs increase the market share of domestic products by making imported goods more expensive, thus making locally produced goods more attractive to local consumers. This view…
Fixing politics by non-political means
Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was overthrown in a September 2006 coup and subsequently convicted of corruption, is back in the country after years in exile. His party…
Power sector remains Pakistan’s Achilles heel
The power sector continues to be a major source of concern with circular debt a high of 2.6 trillion rupees at present - a burden on the country’s scarce resources…
The road forward
Pakistan today faces a myriad of problems that range from poor governance systems, lack of proper long-term planning, uncontrolled increase in population, and water shortages to a poor educational system,…
Setting the economy right
Pakistan’s economy is a mess and badly needs restructuring. The country needs to return to fiscal soundness and bring back private investors. These long-term goals can only be fulfilled through…
Rebuilding the state
The inauguration of Justice Qazi Faez Isa as the new chief justice of Pakistan has brought hope to some – and inevitably dismay to others. It is true that Chief…
Strike against inequality
This past Thursday night, just hours before the expiration of the United Auto Workers contract with Detroit’s Big Three, UAW president Shawn Fain had plenty on his mind. Most of…
Beyond macroeconomics
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) epitomizes a global economic paradigm rooted in inequality with little emphasis on inclusiveness. Advocates of this model argue that some degree of inequality is essential,…
Economic pragmatism vs ideological rigidity
Compare last week’s newspaper headlines with those from the 1990s and it would seem that little has changed in Pakistan’s economic circumstances. Currently, as in the 1990s, the country is…
Post-pandemic, world facing gloomy stew of debt, trade wars and poor
Record levels of government debt, geopolitical tensions that threaten to split the global trading system, and the likely persistence of weak productivity gains may saddle the world with a slow-growth…
