3 decades ago, Ghari Baqir returned with a PhD from Harvard. Keen to use his newfound skills to contribute to policy and thought he started teaching at university as it allowed him time to research, write books and perhaps at some stage advise the government. He had ideas and was willing to work hard. Soon he realized that professors were at the bottom of the barrel. In a society where power and wealth is everything, he had neither. His counterparts in the bureaucracy had nuisance value, generous perks and plots whereas all he had was a measly salary, no power, no perks. His tiny filthy office did not even have a phone in that era before cellphones. Luckily, donors offered paid consulting opportunities. Eventually he made enough money to buy his own house. In the process sadly dreams of independent research, those bright ideas, those books he wanted to write got buried. Donor consulting was working on others’ agenda. He wrote long, lengthy and often meaningless reports on poo...
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