Competitiveness has become a mantra and organizing framework for much government policymaking in Pakistan and beyond. Rarely does anyone question the concept and use of the competitiveness paradigm itself. Krugman (1994) argues that this ”obsession with competitiveness is both wrong and...

The textiles industry in Pakistan has failed to fulfill its “historical mission,” whether judged in terms of promoting rapid and sustained economic growth, reducing poverty, or providing employment to young women and so promoting wider social transformation. This paper makes a case for a...

Compared to the historical and even contemporary experience of India, Pakistan has long been regarded as a “dependent” economy. Gross domestic product growth in Pakistan is typically argued to be contingent on external factors: trade, financial flows, and the interdependence of asset...