Solutions to local problems: Speakers at moot speak about criticality of research

ISLAMABAD: Scholars and academicians at a conference have underlined the need for Pakistani researchers and academics that they must conduct local research and find local solutions to deal with local problems.

Speaking at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) organised Research for Social Transformation and Advancement (RASTA) programme, they said that Pakistani scholars and academicians can follow global research but it has to be adopted as per local needs and requirements.

The research moot comprised diverse research themes, including energy issues, urban development, technology, and public service delivery, social sector development, markets and regulation, the political economy of development and reform, and sludge-the administrative burden.

Dr Nadeem ul Haque, Vice-Chancellor (VC) PIDE said that the RASTA is an evolutionary process.

Dr Haque said that there is no looking back; “We must only look forward to progress. We have already put enough ideas on the table for policymakers”.

“Hope the policy corridors would take notice of it”, he added.

RASTA has provided a platform to all the researchers from across the country.

Dr Anwar Shah, Associate Professor at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad presented his paper on “Informal Markets and Competition: An Analysis of Barriers to Entry of Legal Framework and Behavioral Attitude towards Khokha Markets in Pakistan”.

Dr Shah opened his talk by saying that Khokas (small vendor shops) is one of the key segments of the informal economy in Pakistan. Khokas provide jobs to many people and facilitate consumers in doing various types of transactions. However, entry to barriers put a bar on such access, leading to inefficiencies. The elimination of barriers to entry is important for promoting competition in the market and enhancing the welfare of people.

Umar Ijaz Gillani, while presenting his research on “Regulatory Environment of the Professions in Pakistan: An Outline,” said that it means fixing lawyers, doctors, town planners and so on.

As these all together make up systems; rather broken ones at present and need to be fixed. All these groups have different environments but the essence of all is same, he added. All have self-regulation bodies and each group also conduct elections to constitute governing bodies etc amongst themselves.

Dr Nasir Iqbal and co-authors presenting his study titled as “Revitalization of Street economy in Pakistan: The Case of Islamabad”. The study explores the legal and economic dynamics of Street Economy (SE) in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). Pakistan has a large SE operated by individuals and micro-enterprises across the country, mostly in urban areas. There are no precise estimates on the quantum of SE due to the informal nature in Pakistan. It is vital to gauge the contribution of SE in the overall economic landscape of the country due to the overwhelming involvement of individuals and micro-enterprises. This analysis helps to bring hidden employment and economic contribution to the national statistics.

The study reveals that average revenue of street vendor is Rs 114,708, of which, 29 percent is profit. Formal market also gets a positive spillover effect from the traffic attracted by the street vendors. The study recommends that strong linkages are necessary for substantial gains.

Dr Ahmed Waqar Qasim presented the findings of his study, titled “Sludge: The Administrative Burden.”

First of all, he defined the term sludge. Unjustified frictions that make it difficult for the people to achieve what they want, frictions that make processes unnecessary difficult, and unwarranted interaction between citizens and public institutions all comes under the definition of sludge. The examples may include complicated application processes, duplicative paper work, and various attestations and so on. It matters because it limits the growth, it is distributive and reinforces inequality and sludge can also be employed for rent seeking. PIDE, for the first time in Pakistan attempted to quantify sludge through time consumed, cost involved and psychological cost. PIDE’s sludge report says that in various sectors, sludge at the national level costs Pakistan 39 percent of its GDP.

On the occasion, four papers were presented under the theme – “Political Economy of Development and Reform”.

In his paper, Dr Faiz ur Rehman titled, “Political Dynasties and Local Economic Development in Pakistan”, co-authored by Noman Ahmad and Muhammad Nasir, said that despite the considerable attention paid by the past governments to the underdeveloped regions, intra-regional economic disparities are on the rise in Pakistan. While there can be several reasons for exasperating inter-regional inequality across regions, political institutions and politicians may explain a significant size of this inequality. Politicians exercise considerable de facto political power to redirect resources towards their regions, which has a substantial cost for least developed region.

Pakistan is among those countries where share of elected political dynasties in parliament is one of the highest in the world. It represents more than 50 percent of elected legislature since 1970, his study revealed. He further said from 2008 onwards, the debate on the subject intensified and many levels, but little evidence or research was ever presented. The findings suggest that constituencies with non-dynasts winners perform better than the dynast winners in terms of local economic development. The potential reason for the worse performance of dynasts could be associated with lower political participation, besides other factors. He suggested abolishing discretionary funds and minimizing the influence of legislators over PSDP spending can be an effective deterrent to cut down the divergence between the performance of dynasts and non-dynasts.

Professor Adeel Malik, while presenting his paper titled, “The Political Economy of Non-Tariff Protection in Pakistan” examining the impact of political influence on trade protection in the country, he stated that in 2012, Pakistan signed a five-year engagement plan with the European Union that paved the way for its inclusion in EU’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) to allow duty free access to Pakistan’s exports. The GSP entailed a major harmonization of regulatory standards and led to a dramatic increase in the application of non-tariff measures across the entire manufacturing space. Some sectors experienced higher NTM introductions than others.

The findings show that MFN tariffs are consistently higher for political organized sectors. However, a clear divergence emerges between politically organized and unorganized sectors from 2008 onwards when regulatory duties are introduced.

In the year 2013, a wave of new NTMs and introduction of customs duties, complicating the trade policy further. In a crux, regardless of how the sectors defined, politically influenced sectors have higher levels of trade protection in guise of import duties, particularly after 2013.

Zahid Ali, a PhD scholar from University of Peshawar and Noor Sanauddin presented their paper on “The Perspective of Native People Regarding Developmental Projects of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Gwadar, Balochistan”.

He was of the view that Gwadar’s economic potential has become a center of debate in national and international media.

The study recommends employment opportunities to the natives, development of fishing and marine life policy, special developmental package for the fishing community, provision of drinking water and electricity supply, skill training and promotion of SME, awareness programs around CPEC projects and encouraging CSR could be few of the measures that can diminish the friction between the local community and CPEC authorities/ government.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022