Economic growth, and the variables that drive this elusive phenomenon, have long been a subject of interest for economists. In 1987, the recipient of the Economics Nobel Prize, Robert Solow said that the effect of information and communication technologies (ICTs) could be seen everywhere,...

Several arguments exist regarding the role of regime type in the progress of a country, especially developing countries. Regime type can be broadly categorized on the autocracy-democracy spectrum. This blog post gives an overview of these arguments highlighting the channels through which a specific...

The IDEAS team has been conducting research on public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the education sector, in particular the Adopt A School (AAS) Programme in Punjab. The AAS model, embedded in the PPP theoretical framework, is a response to the realization by the Government of...

Arman Rezaee summarizes his working paper Personalities and Public Sector Performance: Experimental Evidence from Pakistan , co-authored with Michael Callen, Saad Gulzar, Ali Hasanain and Yasir Khan. Development Challenge In most developing countries, small public health clinics constitute an important source of primary health care. Doctor absenteeism is...

Over tea and sandwiches, a prominent politician from Punjab emphatically declared to my colleague and me, the irrelevance of political parties to Pakistan’s electoral setup. Parties, he opined, are simply vehicles for ‘electables’ to gain power.  A brief look over his political career seemed to confirm...