13 Comments
Aug 17Liked by Atif Mian

Looking forward to reading your future post Atif Saheb

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As someone interested in Pakistan's economy, I also assumed that for the most part it's been doom and gloom the last two years. Looking into the recent countrywide internet slowdowns, however, I learned that Pakistan's IT export sector has skyrocketed since the pandemic. It gave me hope -- hopefully those at the top realize that they need to make the aforementioned big policy changes to safeguard such emerging industries.

For those interested, I write more about this here: https://thedevelopingeconomist.substack.com/p/pakistans-internet-slowdown-and-its

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Looking forward for your future posts and articles . Really informative.

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Thank you very much for these insights. For someone who is in his second academic year studying economics in Germany, it is very convenient to read and understand the problems of Pakistan. I am looking forward for more.

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You make a great point when talking about treating poverty as an asset that can be turned into an engine of growth. Can the private sector take any significant steps towards this or can it only happen through govt intervention?

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Pls keep going.

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Besides the surge in exit from the country amid hopelessness, observed another trend: "loot lo, before it all goes down"

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Excellent analysis! Kudos!! Kindly continue to share your thoughts and analysis.

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Poverty trap, population growth trap, Jihalat trap, ......

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Excellent articulation, sir. I have a couple of questions: your point of comparison was the 1980s. It was a time of Zia’s dictatorship. And as we know, dictatorships in Pakistan have typically experienced higher growth rates as they coincided with wars in which Pakistan was a key actor, and that led to higher foreign aid, resulting in higher growth. That’s a layman’s articulation, but I hope you get my point.

One can say that the 1980s is not a suitable point of comparison as the growth rate around that time was influenced by unique circumstances. Will that be a reasonable counterargument?

Secondly, I wish to know who would you attribute Pakistan’s poor performance in the last two years? Would you say that we have had a uniquely incompetent leadership for the last two years?

Thank you!

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An insightful write up. We want to invite you to write an exclusive article in ICMA's official journal 'Chartered Management Accountant on Pakistan's economic situation and way forward.

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Every “expert” in Pakistan has their own set of indicators to tell the story they want. Which ones do the top experts of the world say are the most important?

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