This paper investigates the conventional import demand function for Pakistan using time-series data sourced from the World Development Indicators for the period 1970 to 2010. Using a vector error correction model and impulse response functions, we show that, for the given period, relative prices and income lose their significance as long-run determinants of import demand. This indicates the need for additional determinants. We compare the residuals of the conventional import demand function with those of a model that includes the terms of trade and foreign exchange availability (in addition to the conventional parameters) as determinants of import demand, and find that the latter largely resolves much of what is nondeterministic in the former model. The paper also explores the peculiar trend of a falling imports-to-GDP ratio (from the 1980s to the 2000s), which is unusual for a developing country. In a subsidiary regression analysis for this period, we argue that falling net capital inflows explain this persistent fall in the imports-to-GDP ratio. The recovery thereafter, when Pakistan started catching up with other developing economies, may have been responsible for the 2008 balance-of-payments crisis.

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Cross country evidences reveal that Asian countries have experienced rapid growth over the last two decades. The increase in growth is accompanied with reduction in poverty from 1990 to 2001 as the number of individuals living below the poverty line has decreased over the time period [ADB (2006)]. Growth is considered to be a necessary condition for reduction in poverty but growth does not necessarily imply that it will lead to improvement in living standards of every one. Growth does benefit and improve standards of living but it may lead to increase in inequality if it leads to increase in benefits for few section of the society only. This has been witnessed in China as economic growth benefited all segments of the society, it lead to improvement in living standards for all, but the improvement benefited the rich more as compared to the poor. The same situation persists in India as well. In contrast, countries like Brazil, Mexico, and Thailand have different scenario where there is increase in economic growth and this increase is also accompanied with improvement in equity [Anand, et al. (2013)]. Pakistan historically has seen episodes of high growth but those unfortunately were not coupled with such macroeconomic conditions as are required to achieve lower poverty levels. Therefore, Pakistan has always been facing the challenge of achieving rather more inclusive growth that could benefit all classes of society. The provision of basic services such as education, health, sanitation, and housing for all the segments of population, and social security schemes to ensure social protection are critical for long run reductions in poverty

We test the effectiveness of a group-based attendance bonus in a field experiment in a factory in Pakistan, where workers manufacture electric fans in stages using batch-production methods. We find that the group-based attendance bonus increased by more than a quarter the average number of days that the team’s attendance target was met. This effect was larger for junior and mid-level workers as compared to senior workers. We find that the bonus incentivized better coordination among workers, especially in the latter part of the month, rather than through higher average attendance. Our experiment’s results suggest that temporary incentive programmes may help workers in the transition period to new ways of organizing production and may prove to be a valuable tool for change management. Group-based bonuses offer an alternative to individual or tournament-based incentives based on one’s own or relative performance, which may have deleterious effects on intrinsic motivation and pro-social behaviour.

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