Development 2.0--by Nadeem Ul Haque

Understanding Growth and Development Fundamentally what has preoccupied most of economic thinking over the centuries has been the question “ how can living- standards be improved for most of humanity”. Answers have varied but the quest remains the same. In some sense this has been an eternal struggle for mankind. Most religions have been based on giving us order so that human welfare can be maximized. Utopian philosophers have also developed visions on how to organize society so that people can live better. This very human quest also fires up debates and people tend to be vehement in defending their version of utopia or faith without even feeling that they are merely preaching. Everyone seems to know how people’s lot can improve if only their prescription were followed. The development community has also fallen prey to this prescriptive approach.  Experts pretend to have solutions which if followed will lead to riches not only created but well distributed among the citize...

FEG was developed after many consultations across Pakistan mostly outside Islamabad, in many of the smaller universities, Janshoro, Quetta, Haripur, Sargodha etc. It was also based on the latest research on growth. It shunned the usual practice of endorsing a donor or consultant written paper.   The FEG was approved by the National Economic Council in 2011 and 2012. Any new plan must take FEG into account as it is a part of the country’s policy and is not related to any political party. It is a totally non-partisan effort with ownership of many Pakistani intellectuals. The key findings of the FEG were that Current strategy of pursuing aid-funded projects and postponing reform would not lead to sustained growth; and It was not the “Hardware” (roads, bridges, dams etc) that was constraining growth but the outmoded software (public sector management, productivity, regulation) FEG then identified the software changes in the form of critical reforms that were ...