A social democratic, green, mission-oriented budget
In contrast to the usual approach to a budget discourse based on ideas around raising taxes, and expenditure allocations with slight hints of expanding the tax base, and having progressivity,…
Emerging market credit ratings are finally looking up again
From Brazil, Nigeria and Turkey to even some of the riskiest emerging markets such as Egypt and Zambia, evidence is growing that a decade-long deterioration in sovereign credit ratings has…
Capitalism’s enduring dominance
Having been on a roll for more than seven decades, the liberal world order seems to have entered its sunset period. The obituary of the liberal order is being written…
Taxing the auto industry
Economists of the 20th century believe that a thriving industrial sector is crucial to the development of a modern economy. In 2010, Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang observed that development without…
IMF: reform or ruin?
For the last three decades, Pakistan has been borrowing heavily from the IMF -- giving rise to a chronicle of crises. The debt crisis has led to development and growth…
Ethnic cohesion and development
Ethnic fragmentation is defined as the probability that two randomly selected people in a country will belong to two different ethnic groups (such as Baloch or Pashtun). Sovereign nation states…
Who will help find a solution?
It is difficult to pick positives, though the stock market thinks otherwise. Those astute heads putting their money on the line are breaking new records daily. Obviously, they think an…
Full reserve banking: Part – III
Instead of keeping cash, depositors prefer to continue storing their money in banks despite nominal associated fees, if any. This trend has been evident over the last 20-30 years in…
Pakistan’s best option
The global economy has gone through multiple stages of development – from laissez-faire to neoliberalism, passing through the socialist concept of central planning that leads towards a closed economy. The…
An opportunity being lost
Being a man of action in the lazy setting of Pakistan’s politics, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would know that every challenge is an opportunity. The bigger the challenge, the bigger…
